Battle City Finals: Alternate Destiny
by Zoicite23
Summary: A remake of the epic Battle City Finals with new duels and alternate match pairings. The fate of the world rested on Yugi defeating Marik, but what if another evil triumphed and a different hero was relied upon to save the day? [possible pairings]
1. 01

**In this alternate version of the Battle City Finals all of the matches will be between different contenders. Who is the real villain? Who is the hero that destiny will be depending on? Anything goes in this fan remake.**

* * *

01 - Arrival of the Champion Contenders

* * *

Mai Valentine was leading the group of teenagers with an eager smirk on her face and victory in her steps. The city looked empty now in the dark of night. _Good_ , she thought. _Less chance of us getting jumped by more hoodlums out to take our locater cards_. That sleazy Jean-Claude Magnum had failed to take her spot in the finals (as well as her hand in marriage) and his desperate ploy to have her kidnapped after the defeat had failed as well. She glanced back at Joey Wheeler who was getting teased by Duke and Tristan about a head injury from that fall. Now that the shock of what'd just happened was wearing off – Mai had almost fallen to her death after all! – the blonde guy was once again disappointed he hadn't got that actor's autograph. As for Mai she never wanted to see another Jean-Claude movie ever again.

The other kids had been right after all. Mai already had battled her way to winning six locater cards and had no need to risk it all just because an old opponent wanted her place, not to mention hand in marriage. But defeating him had been just the morale booster she needed. Joey and Yugi, who'd both bested her in their last tournament, would now be able to see that this time Mai didn't have a chance of losing. She was amped to take on Kaiba's tournament crown; Mai had learnt from her defeats on Pegasus's island. With her new and improved deck, and sense of style, she was going to become the victor of the Battle City Finals. _No doubt about it_ , she thought smugly. _They can all just sit back and watch me win_.

"There it is!" Yugi Muto announced in that gruff serious voice he usually had while duelling. "That must be the entrance to the Battle City Finals." he pointed ahead to what looked like the entryway of a stadium that was coming into view around the corner.

"Wow," Tea mouthed as they all leaned forward and peered through the streetlights.

Mai narrowed her eyes. From here she could see large construction cranes from over the top of the concrete walls. _Trying to keep the locale incognito?_ Again a smirk played across Mai's red painted lips.

* * *

"Check it out Seto!" Mokuba Kaiba raised his clenched fists eagerly. "The first of the finalists are arriving! It's Yugi and his friends!"

Turning away from his security workers Kaiba issued the newcomers a cold stare. His arms were crossed rigidly but secretly he was pleased. _That's one of the Egyptian God Cards present in the arena. Now all that's left is to wait for the man known as Marik_. They watched the group approach from the centre of the flat dirt arena. This whole stadium was still part-way through construction, it was Kaiba Corp's idea to use it as grounds for future duelling competitions or letting it get hired out for other venues. The dweebs may or may not have figured it out yet, but this was not to be the location of the first round of the finals.

He surveyed the incoming group of seven. There was no doubt that they were not the other seven contestants he was waiting on arriving all at once. They walked determinedly forward without greeting and Kaiba could make out the faces of Yugi's braindead cheerleading squad. He vaguely recalled their appearances, let alone their names. He had a habit of only remembering those of significance. When they were close enough the suited Rolund moved forward to address them.

"Greetings duellists, please present your locater cards in exchange for your tournament IDs."

"Yugi! Everyone! Congratulations on making it to the finals!" the younger Kaiba brother stepped forward to greet them merrily.

Despite the fact the pointy-haired smallest teen was Seto Kaiba's ultimate rival (having taken his rank of world's number one duellist) Mokuba was ever-grateful for Yugi's help in defeating Pegasus and restoring Kaiba Corporation. Kaiba said nothing to the band of misfits, although he was happy to see Yugi in his own way. In his very own tournament he would strip both Yugi's God Card as well as the rank that rightfully belongs to him. Slifer the Sky Dragon would join Obelisk the Tormentor in Kaiba's Deck and would help make him the greatest duellist ever known.

"Thanks, Mokuba. It's good to see you." Yugi responded as he came to a stop, he had that bland and friendly energy about him.

It was the kind that made him seem like an unimpressive runt of a kid. It did not make him look like the guy who'd beaten Kaiba in the duel that changed everything so long ago. Joey Wheeler was the first to exchange locater cards with Rolund, meaning the blonde idiot would be bestowed the number 2 of 8 in the finals. While Kaiba only remembered those of significance, Wheeler had a remarkable ability to get under his skin. He was a moron who flunked his way to the top of a tournament he shouldn't even have been entered into. Through some glitch or another he'd weaselled his way inside. Kaiba was convinced that his only ever achievement in life was being the best friend of Yugi Muto, the so-called King of Games.

"This place sure is big," one of Yugi's nameless friends with brown hair pointed into a single spike looked around. "But it looks like it's still under construction."

Kaiba ignored the nobody and turned to Yugi as he received his ID card.

"I'm glad to see you finally made it to my tournament finals, Yugi."

"Of course, Kaiba. This may very well be the most important challenge of my life. A lot is at stake in this tournament of yours."

"Spare me the destiny nonsense." He'd already heard this talk on the helicopter ride they'd shared earlier to rescue Mokuba and Yugi's friends from Marik's thug henchmen.

The only other finalist of the group was a woman in revealing purple clothes and long blonde hair. Mai Valentine, a duellist of some merit who'd made it to the semi-finals of Pegasus's island tournament. She handed over her plastic locator cards and received the fourth number from Rolund. He knew only top-ranking duellists would make it into his finals – Joey aside – but all Kaiba really cared about was making sure the other two Egyptian God Cards were present.

"Someone else is arriving!"

* * *

By the time Ryou Bakura marched himself into the wide dusty arena he could see that Marik was already mingled with the others. Those duellists believed he was a kind-hearted and helpful companion, oblivious to the various schemes and motives playing out in the shadows of the tournament. _You fools_. He himself was in control of the boy who was their friend, for the spirit of the Millennium Ring had fought his way into the finals not their white-haired school-mate. Yami Bakura would also be posturing for the purposes of Marik's plan. While the other villain believed he was in control, it would be none other than Bakura who would come out on top and leave this competition with an addition of two new Millennium Items.

His ring necklace was hidden under his shirt and the Millennium Eye which he'd taken from Pegasus sat comfortably in his back pocket.

When the bright lamplights of the stadium cast themselves over him he raised his arm just like sensitive Bakura would have done. Exclamations abounded from the group of people when he was recognized. Bakura's eyes swept over the one posing as Namu for only a moment but he registered the other man's smugness. The attention moved away from Marik as Bakura entered, he must have arrived just before the newcomer. Bakura stepped over to the group, Tea and Tristan rushed over to meet him. _Regardless of what you may think Marik, I'm the one who's really in control_.

"Bakura! It is you!" Tea cried.

"What are you doing out of the hospital man?" Tristan was shocked. "You should be recovering!"

"Hey guys." Bakura came to a stop. A _what's-all-the-fuss_ kind of expression on his face.

"You were unconscious not very long ago," Tea continued the outraged onslaught "What are you doing here? How did you find us?"

Bakura said nothing, tried to make them see all this friendly fussing and concern was unnecessary. It was Joey who noticed it, the taller blonde boy stepped forward.

"No way! That's a duel disk on your arm Bakura! There's no way you won six locater cards and qualified for the finals so fast!"

Tea and Tristan now gaped silently at the machine on his wrist. The others were studying him, Kaiba with mild interest and Yugi with both shock and suspicion. He couldn't let them know that he, the spirit of the Millennium Ring was back and in control of their friend Bakura. Tilting his head back his skinny frame shook with laughter.

"It's quite alright, you lot." He spoke with the British lilt of their school friend. "Really, I feel fine. The doctors say I'm A-okay. They were also surprised by my quick recovery but what can I say? When they saw I was completely alright they had no choice but to discharge me. Then I could get back into the tournament and win some locater cards. After all I wasn't going to let my friends get to the finals without me."

"So not only did you recover so fast but you _also_ won six locater cards?" Tea marvelled. "That's incredible."

"I still think you shouldn't be up and about. You should be resting, man!" Tristan pressed.

The others looked like they were beginning to accept the story, although Bakura didn't miss the suspicion both Yugi and Joey were still firing his way. Walking between the two brown-haired naggers Bakura went straight to the suited agent holding the IDs.

"Look," Bakura held out his locater cards. "If I wasn't alright I wouldn't have won six cards and qualified for the finals."

The man studied them briefly before handing over a plastic card, the number printed on it was '6'. Bakura glanced at it before slipping it into his back pocket beside the Millennium Eye.

"You looked real beat up when I found you," Marik spoke in Namu's faux-friendly tone "but if you've made it to the finals then it must be true that you're okay to duel."

That seemed to settle the worriers although the suspicion remained unsaid. The attention didn't fully leave him until the man posing as Marik arrived. Everyone was on edge as the hooded muscled henchman approached. The teenagers stood rigid and hackles rose. Bakura then understood why Marik was so very amused by this whole situation. He had them on, his plan was working perfectly. _For now_. Even Kaiba seemed more cautious than usual when the dark man with facial tattoos came to a halt before them.

"You mind-controlling freak!" losing his temper as expected Joey raised his fist. "I oughta tie you up with that stupid cape, pal!"

The poser merely responded with a derisive huff and lowered his head.

"I should disqualify you right now for hacking yourself into my tournament." Kaiba announced. "But I'm not going to do that simply because you have something I want: The Winged Dragon of Ra. Just be careful not to break any more of my regulations or I'll have you out so fast you'll be spinning."

The henchman looked at Kaiba but gave no other response to show he'd obey.

"Doesn't look like you have a lot of friends here, buddy." Mokuba stated with a child-like growl.

The security worker stepped forward and requested to see his locater cards. They were presented and he received the seventh ID card.

"Since seven of the eight finalists are here bring in Kaiba-craft 3." Kaiba ordered his other worker who nodded and turned away to speak into a walkie-talkie. The tall blue-eyed brunette smiled to himself. "We'll need to take off immediately after it lands if we want to stay on schedule."

"What about the eighth finalist, Seto?" Mokuba asked innocently.

"It doesn't matter. The three Egyptian God Cards are now present. It's time we get moving."

"Moving?" Joey ceased his glowering at the robed man to turn and face Kaiba. "You mean we're not having the tournament here?"

"What on Earth is that?" Yugi was looking up at the night sky with his legs apart. Everyone else raised their heads to see the enormous blimp as it made its descent. The mobile location for the first round of the Battle City Finals.

* * *

 **This has been me getting a feel for the characters. Next chapter the first duel of the semi-finals will be revealed. I really want to surprise my readers with the who-versus-who as well as the results of each duel. I have more important stories to update however, so this won't get worked on unless someone likes it enough to leave a review.**


	2. 02

**Wow! Two reviews already? I'm blown away. I know I told you guys I wouldn't update without feedback but I still didn't think anyone would do it. As promised the first duel of the alternate destiny Battle City Finals will be revealed!**

* * *

02 - The First Duel of the Semi-Finals is...

* * *

The spotlights surrounding the stadium pointed their beams into the air. Joey felt his jaw drop at the sight of the enormous blimp. It would need the entire arena space just to land. The bottom of it was a long station attached to the oval balloon top big enough to carry it. It was white with a blue 'KC' printed in huge letters – Kaiba Corporation.

"Please clear the area," the bearded guard lifted his arm. "We will be boarding shortly."

"That thing's enormous…" Joey walked backwards to keep up with his friends as everyone moved to the edge of the arena.

The massive aircraft slowed down to an eventual stop, resting on the ground with a dull _thunk_.

"So this means we're duelling in the sky?" Yugi questioned.

"Exactly!" Mokuba cheered as he stopped jogging and then turned to face the blimp. "Four thousand feet in the sky to be exact!"

A staircase folded out with an automated whirring and the two suited henchmen moved to stand on either side of it. Everyone else made their way forward carefully, Joey leading the group.

"We will depart when the eighth finalist arrives." The bearded guy continued. "Remember to keep your tournament IDs with you at all times for security reasons. And please watch your step."

"Glamorous and stylish," Mai passed Joey to be the first one onto the ship. "This looks like my kind of tournament."

With a deathly glare he watched Marik's cape sweep past as the tall man was the second to board. Then the new guy Namu went on afterwards. He turned around and then blinked at Joey with wide eyes.

"Something wrong, Joey?" As he said it Joey shook himself back to alertness.

"Nothing Namu, just thinking of a duel I can't wait to win." Joey felt Yugi's hand on his shoulder. Just a bit as the blonde guy was quite a bit taller than his little friend. "Let's go guys." Joey started walking, Yugi and Bakura close behind him.

"Hold up!" He heard one of the security men shout. "You four can't pass without tournament IDs!"

Angry shouts and girlish pleading resounded as Joey's other friends rounded the staircase beside where the authority figure was standing.

"Please, sir." He heard Serenity speak softly. "All I've ever wanted was to see my big brother duel in person. This is my chance…"

Joey felt a swell of emotion at that. Another reason for him to win in this tournament; he had to help Yugi defeat Marik and he also had to win for Serenity. Thankfully Mokuba intervened and his older brother didn't seem to care enough to say anything about it. His four companions quickly ran aboard before the guards could change their mind. Joey smiled, he guessed it helped to be the younger brother of someone with as much wealth and power as Kaiba.

It didn't change the fact that Joey couldn't stand the guy. He wanted to take down Marik more than anything, but if he got the chance to take on that arrogant rich-boy he'd be just as happy.

* * *

As instructed Marik – the real one – used his ID card to swipe the scanner by his door. Room five whooshed open and he stepped inside, it closed behind him and immediately his look of vacant innocence transformed into an evil grin. _Everything is going according to plan_. He was about to defeat the Pharaoh in a duel and reclaim Slifer the Sky Dragon. But Yugi was not his only threat: Seto Kaiba is in possession of another god card and according to the ancient carvings on the stone tablet, his past incarnation as the sorcerer chief was in possession of the Millennium Rod.

Marik examined the gold artefact after pulling it out of the nothingness it'd concealed itself in. Odion's item and god card was a fake, as long as they continued to deceive the others it was one more advantage the mastermind had over those pathetic fools. Yugi and Kaiba would be his main adversaries, but Odion and Bakura were both also working for Marik. Joey Wheeler possessed no god card and would therefore likely be no challenge. That nameless blonde woman and this other mysterious eighth duellist (were they capable of catching the blimp before it left) would also likely be no challenge for him.

Looking around his luxurious room he scanned the mini-fridge, various circular windows and his comfortable bed. It was spacious with a small table and chairs for pre-duel deck preparation. Holding his Millennium Rod he approached the window with his confident smile. Marik considered trying to use his powers to rig the results of who he would verse. This wealthy boy Kaiba probably had an elaborate method of selecting the competitors, seeing as he'd spared no expense with everything else. Marik would most likely not be able to control the result if a computer picked them out randomly.

It meant that he could end up facing Odion in the first round. But maybe that wouldn't be so bad? Marik would have Odion put up a decent fight, but inevitably allow his master to win. Then he would slink off to his room defeated, allowing 'Namu' to use the Winged Dragon of Ra in other duels while everyone else had their guard down. After all, what is there to fear if big bad Marik has been knocked out of the tournament? He laughed then, a rough cackle that remained safely within the confines of his room. Odion is an expert duellist, and he'd serve Marik better by remaining in the tournament. Even without a real god card he would surely help eliminate some of the Pharaoh's pesky friends.

Domino City blinked away in the night four thousand feet below him. Marik caught sight of his wicked grin in the reflection of the circular glass. This city, the world, it was all about to be his. Moving towards his bed he sat and lay back, slipping his hands beneath his head. This place was a palace, and it was probably what Kaiba had been exposed to all his life. Marik was raised in the darkness of the underground tomb keepers. It seemed so very right that from a life of doomed poverty he would craft himself into the one who would inherit the true power of the Pharoah and with the might of all three Egyptian God Cards, rule the world!

"After all these years and everything I've been taught… _you_ will be the one to serve _me_ , Pharaoh."

* * *

After the announcer told Yugi and the other duellists that it was time to report to the main hall he stood up, feeling determined. His Millennium Puzzle glowed with a dazzling golden light and he felt the edges of his soul flicker, as if detaching from his body. He then moved aside as a far more powerful, ancient soul moved in to take his place. The Pharaoh now stood in the lone room staring at his deck on the small table before him. Leaning down he picked it up, capable of sensing the ancient power that was now radiating from the stack of cards.

' _With Slifer the Sky Dragon in our deck we will be able to stop Marik and Kaiba from knocking us out of the tournament._ ' Yugi spoke from in his mind.

' _Yes_ ,' Yami agreed. ' _Kaiba was the one who insisted we use this card. It will be crucial for us nevertheless_.'

' _Let's go join the others! It's time to find out who we're going up against in the next round! Not only do we have to worry about Marik… but we both know there's a good chance that Bakura isn't who he says he is. That might be the ancient evil spirit of the Millennium Ring that Tristan tried getting rid of at Duellist Kingdom!_ '

' _I'm with you on that, Yugi. We must be careful. Let's go!_ '

The door to Yugi's room slid open and just as he stepped out he turned his face automatically to the left just as Bakura walked into the hall. He gave Yugi a small smile and timid half-wave. Yugi's answering smile was more of a grimace. He made his way down the hall and Bakura stood waiting for him so they could walk together. He thought he saw Bakura's eyes go dark but then suddenly Mai's cleavage obstructed his line of vision.

"Yugi! Are you ready to duel?" she exclaimed with an eager smirk. "I recognize that look on your face, it means you're taking this seriously! Let me just tell you if we go against each other in the finals there's no way my Harpies are getting bested again."

"Ah," Yugi blinked and then recovered. "Well I wish you the best of luck, Mai."

"I won't need luck, my deck's been primed to perfection!" she tilted her head back with confident challenge. Yugi leaned to peer around her but Bakura was gone.

"Out of the way you two! Game champion coming through!" Joey announced loudly in his ruffian voice. They both turned aside and then moved so the three of them could walk together.

Yugi grinned, he didn't care if either of them won so long as Marik was stopped. This was a serious competition and may well be their greatest challenge yet. It was probably wishful thinking, but if Marik and Bakura were both knocked out of Kaiba's tournament in the semi-finals they could spend the next two rounds actually enjoying themselves and the game. It seemed too good to be true, because it probably was. Yugi could verse Joey and Mai without the fate of mankind hanging in the balance, like the friendly games they'd play at school.

Upon stepping into the wide room they could see Kaiba and Mokuba in one corner talking to the guards. The cloaked Marik stood by himself with his arms crossed and wielding the Millennium Rod, he looked menacing and glared at all who looked his way. Namu was talking to Tea, Tristan, Duke and Serenity. Joey's sister waved over her big brother excitedly and the three contenders went to join their group. Bakura was by himself piling food onto his plate.

Tables were lined up on either side and stacked with prime seafood and gorgeous rice dishes. Kaiba must have his own professional chefs here, it all looked very expensive as well as too much food even for twenty people. Yugi glanced at it before being greeted by the others.

"Best of luck in the finals," Namu smiled politely with a plate of half-eaten food in his hands.

"Same to you, buddy." Joey smirked and slipped his hands in his pockets. "Hope you don't feel too bad when I knock you out of the finals."

Namu laughed good-naturedly. Serenity almost squealed with excitement.

"My brother's so cool! I can't wait to see how you go! I hope you duel first! You'll win for sure!"

Joey ruffled his shaggy hair, only mildly embarrassed. Yugi noticed Kaiba looking their way and saw him roll his eyes. Without a god card in his deck Joey was at a huge disadvantage.

"I wonder who Kaiba's interior decorators are," Mai stated looking around. "A girl could get use to this. It's a lot better than waiting for your turn to duel in some old castle, that's for sure. But I'm ready to stop standing around and start duelling already."

"You said it Mai!" Joey shouted and raised his fist. "Let's hurry this along already so I can beat whoever I'm up against!"

"You're so cool big brother!" Serenity gaped again, Tristan and Duke both sighed while Tea gave an exasperated smile.

"Your brother's not that great, Serenity." Duke spoke up. "He lost to me in Dungeon Dice Monsters."

"What? What's Dungeon Dice Monsters?"

"A game of my invention!" Duke answered proudly.

"But if you invented it then of course you probably won. And it doesn't sound like the same thing as Duel Monsters anyway."

"She's got you there!" Tea laughed and Duke looked embarrassed.

"Don't be jealous just cause you didn't make it to the finals!" Joey mocked.

"I wasn't even entered into the tournament." Duke snapped back.

"Then what does that say about you?" Joey stuck his tongue out childishly.

"But Joey," Yugi looked up at him. "Kaiba didn't want you in the tournament either."

Tea started laughing again while Serenity blinked confusedly. This time Joey was embarrassed.

"Don't get too full of yourself, man." Tristan warned. "You're up against some really strong dudes. And Namu."

"So it's time for me to get teased now, huh?" Namu joked along amidst the snickers. "You haven't seen me duel yet." What a nice guy.

"But seriously, Mai's right!" Joey started up again. "I can't stand all this waiting. Hey! Hey Kaiba! When do we start?!"

"Wanting to lose already, Wheeler?" he called back across the room.

"Wanting to beat the pants off you, or that Marik creep, that's for sure!"

"Believe me the sooner you're out of this competition and my line of sight the better."

"Then let's start already!" Joey growled and clenched his fist. "So I can make you eat those words!"

For a moment Yugi worried the blonde guy was going to lose his temper and do something reckless. Kaiba snapped his fingers and his security guys stood to attention.

"Let's get this show on the road, now."

"Mr Kaiba, the eighth duellist managed to show up in time to board the ship but has not come down to join us yet." One of his workers said and Yugi's interest peaked. _Who is the eighth duellist?_

"Then go get him. We start now."

"It's a 'she', and yes sir." He bowed and left.

"Another woman duellist." Mai commented with interest and Serenity looked mystified. Bakura looked up and munched thoughtfully on a shrimp.

All of a sudden the lights went down and a big lottery machine styled to look like the three-headed Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon rose from the bottom of a podium. A spotlight shone upon it and Kaiba's other security worker stepped up to the podium to address the room.

"The duellists for the first round of the semi-finals will be chosen by lottery! Every ball is of equal size and weight, therefore results are one hundred percent random! I hope everyone remembers their number? I will now engage the machine!" He raised his arm and then lowered it towards the huge glass sphere. "Random select!"

The room watched in silence as the balls started bouncing about the inside. The first duel of the semi-finals was about to begin. Yugi felt himself tensing, would a god card be used in the very first duel? One ball was sucked into the mouth of the centre Blue-Eyes and it rolled down the neck and then out the mouth of the left dragon-head into a bowl.

"The first duellist is number 2! Joey Wheeler!"

"Yes!" the boy beside them lunged almost three feet in the air and fist-pumped, those nearby stepped away from the reckless teen.

"My brother duels first!" Serenity cheered. "This is awesome!"

"Looks like I got my wish," Kaiba said with a smile. "You're out of your league here, kid. Now you can be embarrassed in front of your sister and walk out defeated with your tail between your legs."

"I'll show you, Kaiba!" Joey sneered through his teeth. Then he turned back to the suited guy. "Come on! Who am I up against already?"

The machine switched on again and the numbered balls bounced around noisily. Another was sucked up and then spat out the dragon head on the right.

"Your opponent is… number 3! Yugi Muto!"

About half the room gasped.

"Yuug…" Joey whispered in shock.

' _Oh no!_ ' Yugi spoke from inside the Pharaoh's mind. ' _Not Joey! I can't use my Egyptian God card against him!_ '

They had to save the world… but did that mean putting everything Yugi had into defeating his best friend?

"Yugi…" Serenity spoke up worriedly. "He's the champion of Duellist Kingdom… he beat my brother in _that_ tournament."

Kaiba immediately started laughing.

"Let's do this!" Joey spoke up suddenly and surprised Yugi.

"Joey?"

"Give me everything you got Yuug!"

"But-"

"No buts. I said I'd be here to help you beat Marik and I will, only in a different way." As Joey spoke determinedly Yugi was speechless. "We both want the same thing, so we'll give it everything we've got. That way we know the strongest one of us both will be going on to face Marik in the finals! You with me, Yuug?"

"Yes… you're right, Joey." He had a point, Yugi knew that.

He was still stunned. He'd known that there was a chance he'd go up against Joey but he never thought it would happen, certainly not right off the bat. And now either way one of them was going to be kicked out, which meant one less noble duellist fighting on the side of good. Joey still didn't know about Yugi's Egyptian God Card, he just hadn't gotten around to telling him. If Yugi truly gave Joey everything he had, it meant using Slifer – a card so powerful that winning with it meant Joey could end up seriously injured.

* * *

 **So... what do you guys think? I know Joey vs Yugi has happened before, but I still think this is an interesting scenario to happen at this point regardless. What do you think of my choice? Was it expected? Are you looking forward to it? Next chapter the duel begins and you can read some card game action! ;)**


	3. 03

**Thank you wonderful reviewers! So I was researching card effects and I immediately noticed that they did different things in the anime. For a bit I was struggling on which of the traditional rules I should abide by, either way I think you'll enjoy this duel!**

* * *

03 - Joey vs Yugi: Part One

* * *

"Duellists please follow me to the duelling area!" Rolund announced to the room, speaking loudly so as to snap them out of their shock and stares. "Everyone else is free to make their own way up to the Stratos Level and observe the match take place."

Kaiba was still smiling. Not only would he get to see Slifer the Sky Dragon in action but he'd be able to watch Yugi squirm as he used it to crush his own friend Wheeler, finally getting the blonde idiot rightfully ejected from the tournament. Yugi and Wheeler were still staring at each other while everyone else cast nervous glances between them. The taller boy looked determined while his soon-to-be-opponent was grimacing. Kaiba watched Yugi's brow twitch and his eyes were shifting like someone trying to think of a way to weasel out of something. Kaiba could guess what that something was so his grin fell and he approached his rival.

"Listen to me, Yugi. You _will_ play against Wheeler with your god card in your deck. And if you're too cowardly to use it and go easy enough on this clown to the point where he miraculously beats you, well, I'll be winning that card off _him_." He narrowed his eyes and Yugi did the same.

Behind his scowl it was obvious Yugi was squirming over this conundrum. But this was Kaiba's tournament and Yugi would abide by his rules.

"God card?" a brown-haired girl spoke up.

"My brother is a great duellist!" another girl fired at him.

"Don't you worry Kaiba!" Wheeler was grinding his teeth together, his hunched shoulders and the way he held his arms made him look even more like a furious monkey. "Yugi's going to give me everything he's got and I'm still going to win and beat the pants off you afterwards!"

Although Kaiba didn't break eye contact with Yugi he couldn't help smiling again at that. Turning away without even acknowledging the others he started walking to the voyeur's entrance. Mokuba ran to catch up and then called to everyone else.

"Come on guys! Viewers follow us this way! The duels are going to take place at the very top level, in the sky!"

"No way!"

"You're kidding?"

If Joey Wheeler were to do as he said and beat both Yugi and Kaiba, then he would end up holding both Slifer the Sky Dragon and Obelisk the Tormenter. The thought of such legendary monsters being shuffled into his pathetic deck was blasphemous. Joey had no chance of winning this duel. The idea almost made Kaiba laugh out loud again as he strode towards the main elevator.

* * *

' _We have to defeat Joey as quickly as possible!_ ' Yugi thought desperately, and Yami could tell he was already losing his nerve as the three men ascended in the elevator tube. ' _Without being pushed to rely on Slifer the Sky Dragon._ '

' _Joey will be a difficult opponent to beat._ '

Maybe it was Yugi's anxiety that was mixing with his own, but maybe not. Yami also thought of Joey as a friend. The image of him crying out while the almighty red dragon (that he'd faced off against while fighting Strings) rained down yellow fire made his stomach knot. Joey was as determined as ever, standing tall as he faced the door. Yugi leaned against the back as he struggled with his internal turmoil.

' _We have to!_ '

' _Joey has greatly improved from Duellist Kingdom. He made the mistake of using Time Wizard to strengthen my Dark Magician and it cost him the match. This time he's not likely to mess him up again, not anymore. We may have no other choice but to use Slifer._ '

' _We can't!_ ' Yugi's voice was shrill inside Yami's mind.

"Hey Yuug," The elevator slowed to a stop. Joey's expression was almost mean. "I meant what I said before. We need to make sure that the one who wins now is the one most ready to take on Marik. I don't know why you look so spooked. You better be ready to take this seriously."

"I am, Joey."

"I mean it, you dope!" He suddenly yelled, leaning in. "Don't start getting all scaredy-cat or I'm going to destroy you in no time!"

Yugi was shocked and so was the moustached worker. The glass doors opened and their guide was temporarily speechless. Yugi on the other hand finally felt as though he'd been snapped out of his glum trance.

"Alright Joey! Prepare yourself for my best!"

The blonde boy almost smiled but he kept up the tough act and paced out of the opening and onto the field. Yugi watched him swinging his rigid arms with his fists clenched as he walked. He followed his opponent out with a determined smirk and their guide exited while scratching his head. _The fate of the world is depending on us both._ High altitude winds were sweeping across the playing field and the blanket of clouds looked much closer than normal. Yugi's eyes moved to scan their audience who stood below the elevated platform. No Marik and no mysterious eighth finalist.

"This duel is taking place four thousand feet above ground!" Kaiba announced. "The cold winds will test your stamina and endurance. This isn't a competition for kiddies who want to frolic in a magical island castle! Now begin the duel!"

"Let the first battle of the Battle City semi-finals… begin!"

Two life point counters appeared and beeped up to 4000 each.

* * *

Joey drew five cards and then studied his hand. He stood atop the blue arrow while five metres away his old pal Yugi stood atop the red arrow and examined his own cards. The moustached referee stood between them. Below the railings that surrounded their elevated stage he could see his audience – his friends and his sister. Serenity had her hands bunched up to her chest, wide eyes looking both anxious and excited at the same time. Rainbow light flickered from the holographic simulator machines on either side. Joey took just a moment to observe his surroundings before his fierce glare returned to Yugi.

"Alright! You ready for this one buddy?! I summon Little Wing-Guard in attack mode!" as he slapped the card onto his duel disk a small sword-wielding blue warrior with wing patterned armour appeared. "And I set one card face-down. Show me what you got, Yuug."

"Very well!" Yugi drew a card and studied it.

 _Little Wing-Guard only has 1400 attack points_ , Yugi thought. _He can change to defence mode but only at the end of Joey's turn. So that face-down is almost definitely a trap_. Yugi tried to recall what Joey's most powerful traps were as he summoned his own monster.

"Beta the Magnet Warrior!" his yellow monster appeared and hummed electrically. A holographic square appeared displaying '1600'. _I also have a trap card in my hand and if things go wrong now I'll just flip it next turn_. "Attack Joey's monster!" Yugi roared.

"Sorry buddy, you walked right into my trap."

"I figured as much."

"It's true that skill is an important factor in this game, but so's luck!"

"What do you mean?"

"Activate Graceful Dice!" Joey raised his hand and the card faced upwards.

A small angelic figure with a pink top hat emerged carrying a huge blue die the size of its own body. "Do you remember my quick-play magic card? The result of the roll will increase my monster's attack! Hope you're feeling lucky!"

 _His magnet warrior's only two hundred points stronger than my wing-guard_ , Joey thought smugly. _Chances are my monster will get strong enough to beat his!_ "Let's go! Roll the dice!"

Bounce, bounce, _plunk_. The huge blue die landed squarely on two. Yugi blinked and then watched as his angry monster continued the charge. Little Wing-Guard glowed briefly with energy and then they collided. Both monsters exploded and neither player took any damage.

Joey shielded his eyes "Aw man!"

"Perhaps you're not as lucky as you thought, Joey." Yugi commented.

"Let's see if you can do any better!"

"I set one card face-down and end my turn." Yugi crossed his arms and his trap appeared facing downwards.

"Rocket Warrior! Attack his life points directly!" The green warrior blasted off while brandishing his sword only to be stopped by Spellbinding Circle. Joey growled in frustration. "I set another card face-down and end my turn."

 _Our trap cards are helping us for now but our hands are getting smaller and smaller_ , Yugi drew another card. _I absolutely have to stop Joey before he forces me to use Slifer_.

"My trap card means your monster can't change its battle position or attack, and for that matter it can't use its special ability to inflict direct damage to my life points either."

"You know my cards after all this time, Yuug. Just like I know yours. Now make your move." He crossed his arms and Yugi felt his body tense, because Joey did in fact _not_ know about his god card and how dangerous it was. How necessary it would be for Yugi to win this tournament with it.

"…I'm waiting." He teased.

"King's Knight!" A caped swordsman with gold armour appeared and slashed the air. "Destroy Rocket Warrior!"

"Go Fairy Box!" Joey exclaimed and his trap card activated. The spellbound Rocket Warrior was sucked into an arcade whack-a-mole game.

Yugi's eyes flickered between the monster as it popped in and out of separate holes. His knight bore the sword in preparation to strike.

"There's about a fifty-percent chance I'll get your monster, Joey. I hope this time you feel more lucky."

"Why don't you continue your attack and we'll find out." He answered with serious eyes.

Yugi examined Rocket Warrior's movements before pointing fiercely.

"Go King's Knight!" he watched his monster dive and swing the weapon over his head. _Ping!_ Rocket Warrior ducked out of sight just in time. Joey released a sigh.

Yugi watched his monster skulk back to his side of the field and then Joey's rocket monster flew out and landed, Yugi's glowing Spellbinding Circle still orbiting around its middle.

"My turn yet? Good!" Joey slammed another card onto his duel disk and it flickered. "Come on out Panther Warrior!" A flurry of sparks generated and then the huge purple humanoid with a giant sword emerged with a snarl. A holographic rectangle appeared displaying '2000'.

"Smart move, Joey." Yugi praised. "You're going to sacrifice your immobile monster so Panther Warrior can destroy my King's Knight."

"Not exactly," Joey lowered his gaze with a smile and Yugi blinked in confusion. "You got to stop complementing my moves, Yuug. Sure it encourages me when I'm duelling someone else, but this time you need to worry about your own situation." He raised his head looking serious. "Your Grandpa has trained me a lot, I owe a great deal to you both, but _this_ time…" he plucked a card from his hand and slid it into the slot of his disk "You need to help yourself! I cast Giant Trunade!"

A billowing storm wiped out Yugi's trap card and Rocket Warrior levitated higher into the air.

"Oh no!"

"Now before I sacrifice Rocket Warrior I can use his special effect to attack you directly! Go! Enter Rocket Mode!" the green monster transformed, his body closing in on itself until he completely resembled a rocket.

It blasted off, circling the field and Yugi's knight before shooting towards him for a direct attack. Yugi clenched up as the monster collided. Smoke billowed out and his life point counter reduced by 750 points.

Joey raised his arm "And now I sacrifice Rocket Warrior so Panther Warrior can attack!" he slipped one card off the disk and into the discard slot. His green monster shattered and then his sword-wielding beast lunged, cleaving Yugi's gold knight in two. With a howl it exploded in a flurry of sparks.

Yugi grimaced as his life point counter reduced further to 2850.

Joey crossed his arms from behind his snarling purple cat-giant "Your move."

 _Joey… is a capable duellist_ , Yami thought to Yugi. _As I already knew. But if he continues to lead in this match I may need to consider my last resort_.

"Wow big brother!" Serenity cupped her mouth so she could yell. "You're amazing!"

"Hehehe…" the blonde guy scratched his head.

"I'm not quite sure who I'm supposed to be cheering for right now," Tea spoke up confusedly "But that was a good move by Joey. It looks like he utilized his cards well and did some serious damage."

"Hey don't get too cocky!" Tristan called out. "You haven't won the duel yet!"

"I know that you dope!" Joey shouted back.

Kaiba blinked with an expression of boredom. He knew Wheeler didn't stand a chance. His longstanding stretch of good luck in this competition was sure to run out once Yugi draws Slifer.

Namu made sure he was standing behind the others because he was having difficulty concealing his glee. The Pharaoh was far too weak to crush his opponent with the legendary Slifer. If Joey ends up winning that card it would be even easier for him to take it. With no connection to Ancient Egypt Joey couldn't even hope to summon it once it was in his possession. Like taking candy from a baby.

Bakura could see the anguish going on behind Yugi's eyes. It was certainly amusing to watch him struggle but he was quite capable of hiding this satisfaction from the others.

"You going to go, Yuug?" Joey prompted.

"Yes!" He waved his hand and with an agile flick drew another card from his deck. "It's time for my comeback, Joey! I hope you're ready!"

"Bring it on!"

The audience leaned forward in anticipation to witness his next move.

* * *

 **What do you think so far? Using all the cards from the anime is fun! I planned out this match in a separate document beforehand so I could make my first duel as epic as possible! Stay tuned for Part 2! To Slifer or not to Slifer? _That_ is Yugi's question.**


	4. 04

**Okay I submitted this because I really wanted to. I've really gotten into writing this duel and so I hope you guys are really getting into reading it! But... pretty please still leave reviews for both chapters?**

* * *

04 - Joey vs Yugi: Part 2

* * *

"I play the magic card Monster Reborn!" Yugi shouted. "I'll use it to bring back Beta the Magnet Warrior!"

The round yellow monster with magnets for hands returned looking angry.

"You played him in attack position?" Joey observed.

"He won't be here for long! I sacrifice him, sending my monster back to the graveyard, so I can summon Dark Magician Girl!" Some audience members gasped as Yugi's monster fizzled out and then a twirling girlish mage shot out of her card, she spun her staff with a gentle hum and coyly winked across the field. "Not only is she equal in strength to your Panther Warrior but she plays an even greater part in my strategy, Joey!"

"You brought a monster back just so you could normal summon another monster needing a tribute…" He zoned out staring at the feminine hologram and Yugi snapped his fingers.

"Pay attention Joey, this is where things get difficult for you. Now I cast Sage's Stone which will let me summon my Dark Magician to the field!"

"What?!" He took a fearful step back.

Yugi removed his deck from his disk and turned it over. A wave of anxiety washed over him when he saw Slifer had only been a few turns off being drawn. Looking at the red card he could feel the ancient power emanating from it. If he hadn't cast Sage's Stone just now he might've had no choice but to consider it. Retrieving his Dark Magician Yugi closed his eyes and then shuffled his deck well, praying he wouldn't need his god card and praying this strategy would be enough to beat Joey.

The Dark Magician flew out onto the field, floating next to his pair and aiming his green staff threateningly at Joey. The two wizards scowled at their opponent and looked ready to do battle.

"Look Seto!" Mokuba called out. "It's Yugi's signature monster! The Dark Magician!"

"Wow," Duke gasped from the sidelines. "He got two of his strongest monsters out onto the field in only one turn."

"Alright Joey! I hope you're ready for this!" Yugi roared. "Dark Magician, dark magic attack!" the purple suited wizard splayed his hand and Panther Warrior screeched before breaking into pieces. Joey shielded his face from the force of the reverberations. "Now my Dark Magician Girl, use dark burning attack on Joey directly!" She shot into the air, twirled with another eager hum and then fired a black ball of magic which blackened the air around Joey.

His life point counter reduced all the way to 1500.

"I'm in trouble now…"

"Big brother! Hang in there!"

"He lost half his life points from one direct attack!"

Dark Magician eyed Joey from above a box reading '2500' while Dark Magician Girl hovered over '2000'. Yugi stood between them with a frown.

"That ends my turn."

"Dammit," Joey muttered and drew a card. _That was a great move, I really am in trouble… but I owe it to Yugi to give this my absolute best. Same goes to Serenity. But I only have two cards in my hand now… I'll have to play it safe for a while_. "I set one card face-down. That's me done."

Yugi stared into the eyes of his opponent.

"You have no monsters to play? Well I hope that's a good trap card." Yugi drew from his deck and scowled. If he'd picked up a Mystical Space Typhoon he could've wiped out that card and defeated Joey safely. _I'll just have to risk an attack!_ "I play Pot of Greed and draw two cards." Still nothing that could help him now. Yugi could've saved that magic card to use with Slifer but he still didn't want to think of that as necessary just yet. "I play Magic Formula and increase my Dark Magician's attack strength to three thousand!"

"Woah! Now it's just as strong as your Blue-Eyes, Seto!"

"Nice one, Yugi! And ah… hang in there Joey!"

A brown leather book flicked open and hovered beside Yugi's monster whose strength visibly beeped up to 3000.

"Go Dark Magician! Attack Joey now and end the duel!"

"I play Scapegoat!" Joey yelled quickly and four multi-coloured sheep tokens appeared and bleated merrily. "This'll keep me safe until I figure out another strategy…"

"Alright Joey…" _Dammit! I have to beat him quick!_ "Now my monsters destroy two of your tokens!" Yugi waved his arm and his magicians charged, flying in and using their magic to incinerate two of the tokens. The remaining pair of sheep cowered together in fear. "Let's see what you can come up with."

Joey drew a card and looked disappointed.

"I set one monster face-down on the field and that ends my turn, Yuug."

Another dark magic attack revealed and destroyed Joey's Hayabusa Knight. Dark burning attack exploded another sheep token and all that remained between Joey and the powerful pair of wizards was a single trembling pink fluff ball.

"Go, Joey."

"Alright!" he cheered as he studied the card he just drew. "I cast Card Destruction! We discard our hands and then draw until we both have five. It's like starting fresh all over again!" Joey slid the lone card he was holding into the graveyard slot and started drawing his new hand. Yugi did the same and then froze in horror.

Slifer the Sky Dragon looked to be sneering at him from his new set of cards. Yugi's fingers trembled. _It can't be…_ But it was. How he'd hoped it wouldn't come to this, and now the decision he didn't want to have to make was staring him right in the face.

Oblivious to his opponent's despair, Joey continued his turn.

"I play Grave Robber and take a magic card from your graveyard!" The cheeky rag-wearing figure appeared holding a card and turned it around to reveal Monster Reborn. "That was a good idea you had Yuug! Hope you don't mind if I take it! I sacrifice Little Wing-Guard and my last scapegoat to summon Gilford the Lightning!"

A muscled armoured warrior with a torn red cape appeared heroically brandishing a mighty sword. Joey narrowed his eyes, _If I just had one other monster to tribute I could've used Gilford's effect to destroy all of Yugi's monsters on the field. But beggers can't be chosers… plus I got a different plan._ "Gilford attack his Dark Magician Girl!"

The warrior lugged the weapon over his head and sprang into the air. Yugi's blonde monster stared wide-eyed at the incoming attack and then cried out when she was pierced. After exploding into shards Yugi's life point counter beeped down to 2050. Then Joey set another card facedown "How was that for a comeback, aye Yuug?"

 _Gilford is still two hundred points weaker than my Dark Magician_ , Yugi drew a card. _Did Joey just want to wipe out my other monster… or has he prepared a trap?_

"I summon Big Shield Gardna in defense mode!" _This monster is too weak to attack with, so I'll use him to defend my life points even if he is hiding a powerful trap_. "Dark Magician! Use dark magic attack on Gilford now!"

"Reveal Skull Dice! This time I'm sure I won't fail, Yuug. I only need to get a number higher than two!" a wicked bat creature appeared carrying a bulky red die similar to the one before. It rolled the thing lazily and both duellists eyed it as it moved.

Bounce, bounce, bounce, bounce, _plunk_.

He got a four. Dark Magician's attack strength rapidly decreased to 2600.

"Yeah!" Joey raised his fist. "Show him some metal Gilford!" and with a swipe the mage's staff was broken and his mid-section cleaved through.

Yugi could only blink as his life points decreased further to 1850. He looked at his hand. He had only three cards plus Slifer. Joey smirked, his life points weren't much lower than Yugi's now at 1500.

"My turn yet?" He teased and from the crowd Serenity started jumping up and down in a manic frenzy. Yugi made no move to do anything and Joey drew his next card. "I summon Alligator Sword! And next I play a magic card called Question! Heard of it, Yuug? If you can guess the monster at the bottom of my graveyard then I _don't_ get to summon it. I hope you can remember… cause otherwise without a trap card to help you my Gilford will wipe out your shield guy, and then Alligator Sword plus whoever I bring out will be enough to get rid of all your life points too! So… answer the question!"

Yugi was still in a shock. He stood unwavering and clenched his fist. _He wiped out my magicians… they were my last hope before…_

' _Pharaoh!_ ' Yugi's spirit called from beside him, appearing as a transparent ghost. ' _You can't guess this wrong or Joey's right, he'll have enough monsters to win this turn!_ '

"I can't believe this…" Kaiba broke his typical silence during a duel to marvel incredulously at Joey's skill. He had Yugi Muto, the one who'd stolen Kaiba's title, on the ropes and now the result of the duel rested on a silly quiz game.

"I say," Bakura started up. "Joey looks like he's once again turned this duel to his favour. My word, this is an impressive match."

Two swords glinted at Yugi and his eyes twitched. One held by the giant muscled Gilford and the other wielded by a thin reptilian humanoid. _I have to give him an answer! The first monster Joey played this duel was… Little Wing-Guard!_ Yami recalled his magnet warrior tying in strength with the small blue knight and them both exploding. He went to open his mouth but was interrupted.

' _No wait!_ ' Yugi screamed urgently in his mind.

' _What is it, Yugi?_ '

' _Joey used his Grave Robber card to steal our Monster Reborn, then he brought back Little Wing-Guard so he could sacrifice it for Gilford the Lightning!_ ' Yami's eyes widened. ' _That means the first monster he played isn't the first monster at the bottom of his graveyard! I think Joey planned this in the beginning to confuse us, that's we he risked bringing it back instead of his Panther Warrior._ '

Joey's brown eyes were fixed on Yugi's as he waited patiently for the answer. A grin stretched across his opponent's face.

"The monster at the bottom of your graveyard… is your Rocket Warrior! So you can't special summon him and you can't win the duel this turn!"

"Heh," Joey lowered his head and then raised it again looking determined. "But I can still destroy your last monster and cause some serious damage. Go Gilford, attack!" with a charging roar its giant sword cracked Big Shield Gardna's seemingly impenetrable defence. His monster cried out like a wounded animal before breaking apart. "And now Alligator Sword, attack Yugi's life points directly!"

As the monster slashed Yugi stepped away and watched as his life point counter reduced to only 350. In one more attack Joey was sure to win. Turning his head he surveyed the audience. His friends were in shock-amazement. Serenity's mouth looked permanently unhinged and there were stars in her eyes. Kaiba looked like he thought he was in some kind of nightmare and was trying to will himself awake. Namu looked aghast and a little bit worried. Bakura had an intense interest in his eyes, a kind of dark excitement which was surely not coming from the Bakura who was their classmate.

If Joey continued on into the next round would he be prepared to face all the evils present in this tournament? Then Yugi looked down at his Egyptian God Card.

' _Joey is too powerful._ ' Yami began. ' _If we are to stop him… if we are to truly determine who is most suitable to go up against Marik… I must…_ '

'… _I know._ '

' _The fate of the world depends on this. It's time to bring out Slifer._ '

' _But first we need enough monsters on the field to summon him._ '

"What's the hold up, Yuug?" Joey snapped him back into the real world and Yugi registered his dire situation. Joey's Gilford presented an impressive 2800 and although his Alligator Sword was only on 1500 Yugi was outnumbered two to zero. "You had me on the ropes for a while back there, but now I'm kicking your butt! I hope you're not going easy on me after all, are ya?"

Then Yugi smiled. He would need the heart of the cards to get him out of this. If it's destiny's will that he be victorious, destiny would provide!

"No Joey, you are an excellent duellist. It's just a shame our battle was first. Had we been paired with separate opponents we could have faced off appropriately at the very end. You are a duellist who _at least_ deserves second place. But I assure you, I'm going to win."

"Show me what you got!"

"Behold!" Yugi swiped a card from his deck and saw a Magic Card with a picture of his Dark Magician on it. "I summon Queen's Knight in defence mode! Then I cast Double Spell!" Yugi's Magic Card required him to discard another Magic Card from his hand to be used. The only other one he had was Card of Sanctity which would have made both players draw until they had six cards, thus increasing his god card's power to six thousand. However Yugi didn't have any other choice, his faith had led him to drawing Double Spell so he chose to believe in his deck.

"What's that do?"

"By discarding a magic card from my hand I can play one from _your_ graveyard! And the card I choose is Question!" Yugi smirked. "So now it's time I give you a go at your own game. Think you can guess the monster at the bottom of my graveyard, Joey?"

"Ah…" he paused, almost for a whole minute while scratching his head. Kaiba was grinding his teeth together and the others were unshakably gripped with suspense. Yugi let his opponent take his time and all the while his smile was unfaltering. "You…" the blonde teen struggled. "The first monster you summoned…"

"Mr Wheeler," the referee spoke up from the sidelines. "You must take a guess now or submit to his card's effect."

"It was your magnet warrior! Your first monster, Beta the Magnet Warrior!"

"Wrong, Joey. Remember you copied me." Yugi's smile widened. "I brought back my magnet warrior to summon Dark Magician Girl. The monster at the bottom of my deck is… King's Knight! And now that he's returned to the field I can special summon Jack's Knight from my deck! And so!" he reached around for his cards. "I now have three monsters on the field!"

"So what?" Joey retorted.

"So wait! You are about to witness a power like no other!"

* * *

 **Next chapter you shall behold Slifer the Executive Producer, in all his executive glory! I thought this all would only take two chapters but I guess duels take longer when you write them out. Heh. Stay tuned, the duel should end next chapter! Who will win?**


	5. 05

**Yay nice feedback! I feel flattered! Here you will see the end of my first duel as well as the first appearance of an Egyptian God! But who will summon Slifer? And does summoning it guarantee victory?**

* * *

05 - Joey vs Yugi: Part 3

* * *

' _Since you normal summoned Queen's Knight this turn we can't summon again without a card effect_ ,' Yugi spoke invisibly from beside Yami.

' _We have another problem, Yugi._ '

' _What?_ '

' _Slifer the Sky Dragon is the only card in my hand. So even if I were to play him his attack strength would be zero._ '

' _But that means any of Joey's monsters could destroy it!_ '

' _I don't believe an Egyptian God Monster can be stopped by just any card, but it does mean we would have to wait until we draw enough cards for Slifer to be strong enough to attack. Either way we have three defence-position monsters. We're safe for the turn if Joey brings out another monster. We have to believe in the heart of the cards._ '

' _Yes… you're right._ '

"My turn ends, but you will soon see the power of which I speak." Yugi announced.

"Whatever!" Joey drew a card and then scowled. He returned his attention to the field. "Go Gilford! Destroy his King's Knight! And Alligator Sword, back him up and take down Jack's Knight!" His monsters flew in a melee of singing metal. Queen's Knight grimaced as the smoke cleared and she was the only monster left resting on one knee.

"Okay!" Yugi drew his second card and immediately played it. "How do you like this?! Magical Hats to hide my Queen's Knight!"

Four white top hats appeared that were big enough to hide Yugi's Monster under one of them.

"Another stalling tactic, huh?!" Joey exclaimed.

"You needed some extra time before you could beat my magicians." Yugi pointed out. "Now I'm taking some time so I can beat you."

"Gilford attack the one on the left!" Joey exclaimed and when sliced the hat faded away to reveal nothing. "…Suppose my brief episode of luck has run out. Go Alligator Sword, attack the hat in the middle!"

Yugi's eyes widened as his Queen's Knight was revealed. Her shield was strong enough to push back Joey's monster and he lost 100 life points.

"Or maybe I am lucky!" He stepped forward. "Now I can see your monster so your trap's undone!"

 _He's right_ , Yugi thought with a grimace. _My hats are useless to me now_. Yugi drew another card and gasped. _This card…_ This card would not only make Joey unable to attack but it would also give Yugi exactly the amount of time he needed to summon another two monsters and then Sacrifice them for Slifer. This duel was over.

"Go! Swords of Revealing Light!"

"What?!" Joey almost fell to the ground. "Never met any duellist as lucky as you, Yuug!" He watched astounded as the glowing white daggers flew down from above and remained suspended, freezing his two monsters.

 _This is it. If I draw two monsters in my next two turns then destiny has determined for me to summon Slifer and win the duel_.

"Now no monster on your side of the field can attack freely for three turns Joey! Make your move!"

He made an aggravated noise at the back of his throat and checked his next card with a hopeful expression.

"I play Gearfried the Iron Knight! My army of monsters are going to toast you once they're free!"

Yugi examined the black armoured soldier with an unconcerned expression and drew his next card: Kuriboh. He hesitated.

' _You know what this means, Pharaoh._ '

' _Yes…_ '

' _If the next card we draw is also a monster we'll be summoning Slifer the Sky Dragon to the field…_ '

Kuriboh could absorb life point damage for an entire turn if he was discarded from the hand, but that was only a temporary strategy. Slifer the Sky Dragon was a permanent strategy so Yugi summoned his small monster to the field.

"I play Kuriboh in defence mode!" The little brown hairball whined in greeting and then started playfully running on the spot. "Your turn, Joey."

"I sacrifice Gearfried to summon Legendary Fisherman!" He replaced his black armoured knight for a whale-riding spear-holder with only 50 extra attack points.

' _But why didn't he sacrifice Alligator Sword instead?_ ' Yugi gasped.

' _It doesn't matter. It's time for us to summon the next monster we will use to tribute for Slifer._ '

Yugi drew a card and his eyes widened. He'd drawn the Red-Eyes Black Dragon. _Joey's card… but why? What does this mean? I can't summon Red-Eyes, he's still not strong enough to beat Gilford and if I leave him in attack mode the difference in life point damage will be enough to cost me the duel! What was the point in drawing this? I can't use it and yet… I can't help thinking there's a significant reason as to why I drew it._ Yugi looked over at his friend. _This was Joey's card. He lost it to rare hunters and I won it back for him but… he wanted me to keep it._

"You gonna move, Yuug?"

"I… end my turn."

"Alright!" Joey drew then smiled. "I can't do anything either. But it doesn't matter. This is my last turn under your spell meaning my three monsters will beat you when I go next. From the troubled look on your face I'm guessing you've probably run out of useful cards to stall with! So take your last turn, Yugi!"

Yugi grimaced as the swords faded away. He hadn't drawn a monster he could summon to tribute for Slifer, so now even if he drew a card he could play it didn't matter. His three monsters would be destroyed by Joey's three monsters and he couldn't hope to recover after that. Yugi drew the next card from his deck and suddenly it explained everything.

Joey watched his opponent staring wide-eyed at what he drew. _What could it be? A magic card? If it is and it can't help him it means I've won on my next turn. Alligator Sword can dice Kuriboh, Legendary Fisherman can spear Queen's Knight and Gilford will attack him directly and end the duel_. Joey watched Yugi's face settle and then his stern focus was returned to the duel.

"Behold my magic card Joey, Exchange!" he slid it into place and it appeared holographically magnified on the field. "It means I can take a card from your hand, in exchange for you taking one of mine!"

"I hate to break it to you Yuug, but I got nothing good in my hand." Joey watched as Yugi walked across the field towards him, between his two stationary defensive monsters.

Joey straightened and then walked through his three menacing attack-position warriors. They met in the middle and stared each other down.

"Joey…" Yugi kept his voice a low murmur "What I really wanted when I played that card was a chance to talk to you like this."

"What?" Joey eyed the referee who was carefully surveying them.

"Look, I have two cards in my hand." Yugi showed him both Red-Eyes Black Dragon and Slifer the Sky Dragon.

"You…" Even when Joey had been mind-controlled by Marik he'd refused to take Red-Eyes. _That was Yugi's card. I told him to keep it. I can't take Red-Eyes_. Instead his stare moved to the strange red card. _What is X000 attack and defence supposed to mean?_

"Listen to me, Joey." Yugi spoke seriously. "You have three monsters in play. Take Slifer the Sky Dragon and use him against me. If you're unable to control his power then we know for sure that you're not strong enough to defeat Marik."

"What are you talking about?"

"I would never lie to you just to win a duel, Joey. Slifer the Sky Dragon is the strongest monster in my deck, I won it from one of Marik's mind slaves. It requires three sacrifices in order to summon it."

"Ah…" _Three? That's the same amount of monsters I have in play…_ Yugi watched him deliberate with a serious expression on his face.

"What's the hold up?" Kaiba demanded.

"Please choose your cards so you can continue the duel," the referee prompted.

Yugi and Joey continued their serious staring contest.

"Come on, Joey! Take the card."

"No," he responded and watched Yugi's expression go flat. "I hate the idea of taking back the card I wanted you to have… but not as much as I hate the idea of winning against you with your advice! I don't even know how I'd play that weird-looking card. I'm going to have to choose… your Red-Eyes." Joey's hand was hesitant, he really did feel bad about taking back that card – even for the duel – but there was no other choice.

Yugi was in shock as he held out his cards, Joey reached out and took not the god card but his old Red-Eyes.

"You don't know what you're doing, Joey!"

"Go on and pick a card, Yugi."

Furiously Yugi snatched Joey's hand and then flicked through the cards. Insect Queen, Polymerization, Baby Dragon and then Yugi saw the card he would take. Almost shoving the cards back into Joey's hands he stormed off to his starting position. _I was begging Joey not to let me use this card on him, but he's too stubborn. Now I have no other choice._

"Now I play your Warrior Returning Alive card and bring back a level four warrior-type monster from my graveyard! King's Knight, return!" Yugi grimaced and his eyes started watering. Everyone watched him hesitate before he raised his arm straight into the air. His tears overflowed as he bellowed "Slifer the Sky Dragon! I tribute three monsters to summon you! Come forth!"

A thunder-strike shook the blimp and the heavens ripped apart from above. A shrilling roar cascaded throughout the night sky and blinding light made everyone else cry out as they shielded their eyes. Yugi gave a long shout as he felt electricity running down his arm and through his body. _Such power, would Joey have been capable of controlling this?_ The Millennium Puzzle was glowing, reacting to the god's immense force. With all of his effort Yugi brought the card down onto his duel disk.

The lights instantly dimmed revealing an enormous red dragon with two mouths, its long serpentine body coiled around the massive aircraft several times. Yugi was panting and his three sacrificial monster cards fluttered off his disk and landed by his feet. Slifer lowered itself so its head was above Yugi and then released a shrill roar that buffeting back the startled Joey by several feet. The sheer magnitude of being faced by a god looked like it was going to overwhelm him.

"That… can't… be real…" Joey whispered.

"It is!" Yugi announced. "This is the power of an Egyptian God!"

The power calculator finally started working and revealed Slifer's attack to be zero. Joey's eyes narrowed and then widened again.

"Such an enormous monster… and its power's zero? What's the catch?"

"My monster is not strong enough to defeat any of yours yet, so I'll end my turn." Yugi tried straightening out of his crouch. Standing beneath Slifer made him feel like all of his power was being sucked away. _Am I the only one who can control this monster? Is it because I'm the Pharaoh?_

"Gilford the Lightning!" despite his fear Joey manned enough courage to keep playing. "Destroy his monster!" The warrior charged into the air and swung his blade overhead, only for it to bounce off the space surrounding the enormous red dragon with the sound of a bug zapper.

 _My monster can't even get close!_ Joey observed. _The aura surrounding that dragon is so thick… it's starting to give me tunnel vision…_ He took another step back to steady himself.

"There's nothing you can do I'm afraid," Yugi drew a card from his deck and the mute crowd watched as Slifer's attack box beeped up to one thousand. "Go Joey."

His hand shook as he drew a card.

"Well maybe for some weird reason your monster can't be attacked, but that doesn't mean my effects can't stop it! Now I play Time Wizard! His time roulette will-" Joey watched as Slifer's second mouth immediately opened and a fiery red ball _whoosh_ ed down and swallowed his red clock monster. The glass of time wizard's clock face cracked open before he vanished in a flurry of embers and heat that felt very real to Joey as he jumped with a shout and shielded his face.

"Slifer the Sky Dragon can't be stopped by card effects either, Joey." Yugi was stooping, looking as though he was also about to pass out as he spoke tiredly. "And its effect forces it to attack any new monster as soon as it enters play. My move." Yugi reached for his deck.

"Hold on there, Yuug. It's not your turn yet."

"Joey there is nothing you can do. Surrender the duel now. Please. I have won. I don't want to hurt you."

"Your monster has to attack every new monster that I play, but if it's over one thousand it doesn't mean they'll be destroyed! And what if instead of summoning I fuse?" Joey smirked at Yugi's growing agitation. "I use Polymerization to fuse Alligator Sword with Baby Dragon in my hand! Come forth Alligator Sword Dragon!"

"This is pointless, Joey!" Yugi yelled.

A ball of fire fell from the sky and consumed the new monster just as it formed. Red tongues of fire blasted apart as Alligator Sword rose from on top of a little orange dragon.

"Yes!" Joey cheered in victory as his monster safely ascended.

"This is your last warning Joey! Give up!" Yugi panted. "I don't want to hurt you!"

"Say Yuug, is that giant dragon of yours a darkness or light attributed monster?"

"None of your effects are going to work!"

"I'm not talking about effecting your dragon! I mean effecting you!" Joey pointed at Yugi who was mustering all his might just to stand. The gravity where he stood was unbearable.

"Slifer is a divine attributed monster… One of only three that share that attribute in all the world..."

"Well good, cause as long as you don't have a light or darkness monster in play, my fusion card can attack you directly! So hasta la vista, buddy!"

 _What?_ Yugi watched as the monster team sailed downwards and arced around one of Slifer's claws. Although it couldn't get close to his Egyptian God Monster the massive beast didn't at all seem interested in defending Yugi's life points. His eyes grew wider as Alligator Sword Dragon flew unsteadily towards him and then its singing blade fazed right through his torso.

Yugi's life points decreased to zero.

With a deafening roar Slifer the Sky Dragon threw its head back and spread its wings, then faded out in a blaze of glory. Yugi swayed and then collapsed onto his knees.

Chatter immediately burst forth from the audience and Joey sprinted across the field to his friend as the other monsters vanished.

"The winner of the first duel in the Battle City Finals is Joey Wheeler!"

Yugi stared blankly at the ground as the platform they were standing on mechanically lowered. He lost the duel… He was knocked out of the finals… He wouldn't get to duel Marik…

"Yugi! Are you alright?" Joey's urgent voice made him raise his head. The blonde boy was concerned and confused.

"Joey… you beat me. Even with an Egyptian God Card on my side of the field you managed to win…"

"Yeah, I sure did." Joey grinned then. "Guess now we're even. One game apiece. You beat me in Duellist Kingdom and now I finally beat you here. Told you I wouldn't hold back."

"Yes…" Yugi lowered his head and then lifted it, smiling as well. "And I didn't hold back either. You've bested me, Joey. That means one thing: I am not the hero that destiny has chosen anymore to face this great evil. That person, Joey, is you."

* * *

 **Is it what you expected? I certainly hope not! This is my FanFiction, which means I can make the privileged main character a sidekick to his own sidekick if I want to! I hope it didn't drag on too much, it didn't seem like the duel would be this long when I planned it... Joey is now in possession of Slifer the Sky Dragon, but can he even play the damn thing? Time will tell.**


	6. 06

**The first duel of the finals is over. How has this change affected the characters who remain? What will be the consequences? It almost feels like a butterfly effect... one thing will trigger another then another and so forth.**

* * *

06 - Joey Wheeler the King of Games

* * *

Gasping Ishizu leaned forward in her chair by the window, automatically reaching up to clutch the Millennium Necklace at her throat. Her wide blue eyes were frozen in shock as she stared across the room. Rarely ever did she receive a vision that shook her to her core so violently… but this had been no ordinary vision. It felt like a shift. A shift of colossal proportions, like the fourth dimension had just realigned itself and changed the course of their timeline – of destiny. All seven Millennium Items as well as the three Egyptian God Cards were on board this aircraft, if anything was strong enough to reshape the fabric of space and time it would be these powerful objects.

As predicted Ishizu had managed to board the aircraft seconds before it would leave without her. She'd made her way straight to her room to await her turn to duel, sending away the servant who requested her presence at the random assigning of the first match. As soon as she'd called him away and he'd made his perplexed and disgruntled departure down the hall, that was when the shift hit her. The Pharaoh would indeed be duelling first and he would rely on the power of Slifer the Sky Dragon. However it would not be the Thief King spirit of the Millenium Ring he would battle against, instead it was to be his own friend Joseph Wheeler!

Not only was that revelation troubling to Ishizu, but there was something more. The good Pharaoh was to lose and have his Egyptian God Monster forfeited to a boy who could not even play it (let alone fathom its power).

Ishizu leaned back and closed her eyes regretfully. The other duellists would only now be finding out the results of the first match while _she_ already knew its outcome. She wanted to race down to her brother Marik and the others right now, scream at them the truth and force destiny to change – but it was no good. A dark fate was reserved for those who would abuse the power of the Millennium Necklace to defy destiny. But so much was now uncertain. It seemed that instead of being the last person to duel in the Quarter-Finals, Ishizu would be competing even sooner than she'd thought.

In Joseph's hands Slifer was now nullified. Seto Kaiba and Marik possessed god cards and would use them for their own destructive and selfish purposes. Odeon was determined to serve Ishizu's brother and aid in his evil plot. The Thief King spirit would waver in his allegiance, now that he'd seen the great power attained in possessing a god. The only other duellist still entered in the finals was Mai Valentine, a woman who at the present time didn't know or care that there were evil intentions on the aircraft that risked the stability of the world.

"Marik…" a tear tracked down her face. And what of the fate of her brother? Would he be swallowed entirely by his own evil?

The Pharaoh was no longer in a position to save him. And now that he was out of the tournament, both Marik and the Thief King spirit would try to take his Millennium Puzzle. Did that mean it was up to Ishizu to save her beloved younger brother? How tragic that their unfortunate lineage had led Marik to live as a criminal…

Ishizu wanted to believe that she could save her brother. And yet the Millennium Necklace could not even tell her if she'd triumph in her duel.

* * *

Mai Valentine was seeing Joey Wheeler in a light she'd never seen before. Sparks were flying off his victorious smile, he reminded her then of a super star. The Duellist Kingdom Finals had nothing on what everyone had just seen now! Joey stepped off the arena with a big grin, Yugi's arm over his shoulder for support. The small guy looked exhausted for whatever reason, but maybe that giant red dragon really did have so much power that it rendered him enfeebled? Her eyes glinted with an old determination. _Egyptian God Card huh? I could use me one of those…_ As soon as Joey and Yugi were down with the others, Serenity dive-tackled her brother and Yugi fell off him, having to grip onto the edge of the arena's railing for support.

The younger brown-haired girl was gushing, going on and on about how cool he'd been. Joey had indeed grown. He didn't lose life points from one single stupid mistake, and he'd beaten the King of Games in an official match. That meant it was none other than the goofball who had that title now. While Joey was being swamped by his sister the other guys Tea, Tristan and Duke went to comfort Yugi.

"You played really good out there." The short-haired girl started.

"Yes," Yugi scratched his head, embarrassed. Mai was kinda glad to see his pride get knocked down a little, considering he'd beaten _her_ in their last competition.

"You both played really good." Tristan agreed "I knew the match would be tough, but I didn't actually think the air-head would beat ya."

"Joey's come a long way as a duellist," Yugi responded.

"What about Marik?" Duke started up, looking worried. "Do you really think Joey can beat him?"

"Yeah…" Tristan spoke from beside the black-haired guy. "I kinda get the feeling Joey was only so determined cause he knew Yugi so well and lost to him before. What if he doesn't take a match against anyone else as seriously?"

"He's just surprised all of us now." Yugi stated. "I'll bet he can do it again. Joey is hundred times more of an honourable duellist than Marik will ever be." And at that Joey looked through his sister's arms to smile at his friend and Yugi smiled back.

Namu was still looking at them both and for whatever reason he was astounded. Bakura stepped right up to Yugi, squeezing between his friends. His face looked almost hungry.

"I say that was a great show! Many twist and turns! Your magician strategy was brilliant, Yugi. I for one never expected you to lose the first match of the finals."

For a moment Yugi looked uneasy, distrusting, before he laughed Bakura off.

"There's no one I would have rather lost to here than Joey."

"Joey Wheeler!" Everyone looked up to see the referee making his way over. "As the winner you are entitled to take Mr Muto's rarest card."

"That's right, I owe you a card." Yugi extracted his deck and flicked through it.

"I owe you one too, Yuug." And Joey pulled out a card he'd placed in his pocket. He took a moment to stare forlornly at his old Red-Eyes. "…The reason why I wanted to duel you so badly, either in this tournament or afterwards, was so that I could win back Red-Eyes fair and square. I finally got to… but it looks like it's no longer your rarest card huh?"

"No Joey," Yugi stepped forward and held out his strange red card. "If you are to beat Marik you will need _this_ card. You may not possess a Millennium Item but there's a strength I've seen in you that I believe in. Destiny chose you, so there must be a reason for it! Take the card." While Yugi's whole destiny shpeel always made Mai raise her eyebrows she smiled at his cute speech.

"Thank you, Yugi." Serenity whispered with her arms still around her brother.

"Fine… here." Joey took Yugi's card and then held out Red-Eyes. "We'll have a rematch after the tournament, and _then_ I'll get my old monster back." He declared and Yugi nodded with a smile.

"Taking that card was the right choice, Mr hotshot," Mai finally stepped closer to claim Joey's attention. "You're on a roll this time, helping me out against that sleazy Jean-Claude Magnum and then defeating the number one duellist in the world. I might just be swooning over _you_ for a change." She fired him a sassy wink.

"Ahhhh…" Joey immediately blushed.

"I'm glad it seems like I'm not the only duellist who's remodelled their deck and fighting style. You and me were good, but we were still pretty much the underdogs of the last tournament." She stated with a flick of her blonde hair. "I'm going to enjoy kicking your butt in the Semi-Finals or higher Joey. And make sure that god card's in your deck, kay? My harpies could use a new pet dragon…" and then she waltzed off and left them. Everyone's eyes was on her strut, including Joey.

Just as she was making her way to the elevator she overheard the referee giving another announcement.

"There will be a thirty minute intermission before the next duel!"

Seto Kaiba was nowhere to be seen but his little brother stayed behind, probably to congratulate the duellists. Mai was heading back to her room and she was going to flick through her deck one last time. She'd felt prepared when she'd made her appearance in the main room, but that duel had blown her away. She wanted a little bit more time, just to make absolutely sure that her deck was flawless.

When she'd first met Yugi and Joey on the boat to Pegasus's island the blonde kid had been enamoured by her, just like all of the duellists she met that night. It was quite fun to flirt and get their hopes up before crushing them brutally along with their life points in a duel. Joey's adoration for her quickly seemed to fade after he caught her cheating in their first duel, afterwards she seemed to fall into his friend category. Joey had been kind of an idiot, but he was good to her and loyal. And more recently he'd just beaten the young prodigy Yugi Muto himself.

As the elevator closed and descended Mai crossed her arms with a smile. As well as being eager and smug… she could tell there was another emotion behind that grin of hers.

* * *

Ten minutes after his first duel had ended, Joey was in his room with his friends and Serenity. He could barely think over their cheers and teasing. He felt over-the-moon, he honestly couldn't remember a moment in time when he'd felt this happy. Serenity was glowing at him, she'd wanted nothing more than to watch him duel. She got that, and she also got to see him win against arguably the toughest competitor in the competition right off the bat. Serenity was grateful to Yugi for being such a good sport and staying to help Joey get ready for the Semi-Finals. He'd been the one to hand over the prize money to pay for her operation so she'd been thankful towards him anyway, expressing her sadness that he was already out so soon.

As Joey laughed with his friends around him he thought back to Mai with a blush. The way she looked at him had given him some funny feelings… Maybe they really would go up against each other in the finals. And maybe if Joey beat her again she'd have to admit he was the greatest duellist in the world! _Then maybe she'd…_ a childish vision of her kissing him on the cheek after the duel made his stupid grin and red cheeks become even more pronounced.

"Come on, Joey!" Yugi pressed. "Pay attention! I'm trying to teach you how to use Slifer."

"Give him a break, Yuug." Tristan sank down on the couch beside the blonde boy, a handful of canned drinks he'd taken from the mini-fridge settling into his lap. "He just finished his duel, he could do with some time to relax and celebrate!"

While Yugi had been happy for Joey his smile was becoming strained. It was clear he was taking this very seriously. He was crouching on the floor, the gold case he'd used to hold his Millennium Puzzle before he'd finished it (the one that now held all his cards) was open and sitting beside him. He'd sorted his cards out onto the floor in equal rows.

"Marik has to be stopped, he's definitely plotting some way to cheat us to victory." Yugi pressed before looking back up to Joey. "You're all we've got now to stop him. If you want Joey you can use your Red-Eyes for the rest of the tournament?"

"What? I don't think I should do that!"

"I think you should look through all the cards I've got here and take whatever you want, whatever will help you win your duels, just until the end of the tournament."

"I dunno… this seems like it's getting close to cheating…" Joey admitted although his friend looked serious.

"I gave you Time Wizard and it helped you out plenty of times. Look through my cards and take whatever you think will help. It's up to you now Joey."

"Yeah… Yeah I guess you're right." Joey leaned forward. His deck was on the floor by his feet and Slifer was turned upwards. "With all you guys helping me I know I'll make a deck strong enough to take on whoever I'm up against in the rest of the finals!" He watched Yugi smile and all of his friends grin at him in turn. Joey narrowed his eyes at the red dragon "Whether it's that mind-controlling creep Marik, or…"

 _Kaiba_. Hadn't Joey said he was going to beat Yugi and then take him on? He'd really wanted to smirk at that arrogant rich boy and say 'I told you so' only he'd disappeared before Joey had the chance. He kept thinking about what Mokuba had said though, it kept echoing in his mind.

' _My big brother really wanted to face Yugi. That was one of the reasons why he made this whole tournament. Seto wanted to become the number one duellist in the world and get all three Egyptian God Cards. Now that Yugi's title goes to Joey… I don't know if Seto's going to have to admit that he was wrong, or that the whole thing was a fluke and the title no longer means anything. Either way he's going to have to duel Joey later on in the tournament to win Slifer the Sky Dragon, and that means he would have to acknowledge you as a powerful duellist on_ his _level, Joey._ '

As Joey closed his eyes seriously Tea was joking around about something and everyone laughed, the spirits high all around them. Yugi was silently watching Joey's face. The blonde teen stood upwards suddenly.

"I think I need some fresh air."

"Are you alright, big brother?"

"Yeah, this has all been so crazy, I think I need just a little time alone to process it all."

"Do you want us to leave?" Tea asked confusedly.

"Of course not! I'll be right back!"

"Be careful Joey," Yugi warned. "You know Marik wants your god card. He's controlled your mind once before."

"Relax, I'm leaving my deck here with you guys. If that Marik guy tries to jump out at me I'll kick his ass and tie him up with his stupid cape," he stuck his tongue out at them "Later!"

The door sealed closed behind Joey and he leaned back against it and sighed. Then he looked up in surprise, someone else was standing in the hallway.

Kaiba scanned Yugi's number 3 room with a card around his neck and it whooshed open. But Yugi wasn't in his room, he was in Joey's. The blonde guy's shoulders raised as he stormed over, the taller teen grimaced at the empty room. From the side his eyes looked tired and they had a bit of a manic spark to them.

"So your card lets you into everyone's rooms?" Joey started smugly with his hands in his pockets. "A little creepy Kaiba."

The brown-haired guy's eyes were wide with a demented fury. Immediately he spun to Wheeler and gripped him by the collar, throwing him into the wall and lifting him off his feet.

"Wheeler…" he sneered.

"Hey! You jerk! What's the big idea?"

"You were the one so eager to fight me, Wheeler." He was shaking and his voice was low.

"I thought you'd never ask." Joey's fist cracked into the side of rich-boy's face, and he spun away and let Joey fall back to his feet. That punch felt just as good as Mai's kiss to his cheek in that fantasy.

Kaiba's eyes looked frozen open, as if he was shocked Joey had actually done it. The blonde guy stood with his fists raised in front of him. "Did ya like it pal? Why don't you come here and get another!"

"You… you…"

"Can't just kick me out now, huh?" Joey teased "Cause I got that god card you want!"

"How the hell did you beat Yugi?!" Kaiba suddenly shouted.

"You were there, you saw. I beat him fair and square! Which means…" _Mokuba's words again_. "I'm just as good as you now Kaiba, deal with it! Both of us have an Egyptian God Card! I'll beat you next round too, just like I said I would!"

"You… are an idiot Wheeler." Kaiba reached up to touch the plum bruise that was developing on his cheekbone. "You will never be on _my_ level."

"We'll just have to see in our next duel," Joey crossed his arms smugly. "Maybe if you're lucky you'll win my King of Games title?"

Then Kaiba did something completely unexpected – he charged at Joey. The blonde guy had just enough time to uncross his arms before he tackled to the ground.

"Get off me!" Joey growled. "Are you insane?"

Kaiba punched him furiously across the face and Joey was dazed, he felt his torso getting lifted up by his shirt. Before the blue-eyed guy could hiss something Joey swung his head forward and butted him. Then he kneed Kaiba in the abdomen and swung him over, straddling his body.

"I guess rich-boy hasn't gotten into many street fights before!" Joey shouted and wiped the blood off his chin from his busted lip.

Kaiba leaned forward and shoved Joey off. The blonde guy rolled back and then rolled again to get away, leaning himself up against the wall. Kaiba was resting on his elbows panting. Joey was breathing just as hard, turning his burning face into the cool wall – he thought he heard Tea laughing about something and then everyone else joining in.

"Man…" he huffed. "It's a good thing these walls and doors are fancy enough to not let sound through." Then he looked over the jeans of his bent knee to watch Kaiba as his wide eyes focused on the ground.

"Wheeler…" he kept saying. "…Wheeler…"

"Hey you alright? I thought swinging your fists a bit would help you calm down. Hey Kaiba, you aint so tough without your big suited body guards…!" Joey grinned broadly but then stopped cause his face hurt.

"I… will kill you, Joey Wheeler!" He snarled, his brown hair ruffled.

"Yeah whateva," The blonde guy jeered. "Save it for ya tournament."

Kaiba slowly got back onto his feet and brushed off his expensive coat. Then he turned away with infuriated humiliation. As soon as he was gone Joey smiled again. That snob-douche had finally acknowledged him. He had no choice now. Not only were they on the same level at Duel Monsters, but they'd pretty much tied in a real fight as well. Joey looked up at the ceiling wistfully and chuckled, wincing again cause his ribs hurt. Then after a little while longer he stood up, deciding he should find a bathroom to fix himself up, just so he doesn't end up freaking out Serenity.

* * *

 **Do you think everyone was in character? I think it's completely plausible that things could have happened this way. I thrive off your reviews, they make me update faster! The second surprise match-up should be revealed next chapter... I think. Hazard a guess as to who it might be? 3:)**


	7. 07

**I'd like to thank presea221 for such wonderfully detailed and thoughtful reviews. I'm also glad to say that you guessed wrong in your match-ups, TopRanger237! I'd already decided who would verse who before even starting this Fanfic, as well as who the eventual victor will be!**

* * *

07 - Battle Between the Millennium Items

* * *

Yugi Muto frowned at his cards as they were laid out on the carpet before him, spread so Joey could take his pick. The blonde teen had not yet returned to his room. The four other non-duellists had gradually stopped being boisterous and now spoke amongst each other quietly, although lightly. Yugi had stopped joining in the talk some ten minutes ago. Soon the next match of the finals would be revealed, and Joey had still not returned from going out to 'get some fresh air and clear his head'. They'd just been duelling on top of a blimp – how much more fresh air did he need?

Absent-mindedly his hands clutched the Millennium Puzzle suspended on a chain around his neck. Until Marik was defeated he'd likely not relax one moment on this ship. As his anxieties mounted he got to his feet.

"I'm just going to go check on Joey, guys." He announced.

"Oh yeah, good idea." Duke replied, blinking his green eyes. "He's been gone for a while, huh?"

"Do you want me to help you look for him, Yuug?" Tristan offered.

"Nah I'll be alright." Yugi started towards the door. "You know what Joey can be like. I'd hate to think his victory's gotten to his head and he's out doing something stupid, like challenging Kaiba."

"Yeah," Serenity smiled from the couch between the two guys. "Bring my big brother back, Yugi. The next match is probably going to start soon."

The door whooshed open at the press of a button.

"Will do, Serenity." Yugi stepped out into the hall and once the door slid back his care-free smile became a frown.

 _No Joey in the hallway_ , his eyes scanned the length of it. The small boy started walking with his hands in his pockets. He turned his head when he noticed the door to his room was open. What's more – someone was standing in it! A shadow in the darkness. Yugi hesitated before clenching his fists. He strode determinedly into his room.

"Who's there? Kaiba?"

The door slid closed behind Yugi and he gasped as they were concealed in darkness. Then the glow of another Millennium Item revealed Bakura standing stock-still with a menacing grin. His Millennium Ring eyed Yugi from the white-haired boy's chest.

"Walked right into my web…" he stated in a dark voice.

"The evil spirit!" Yugi gasped. "I knew it! What are you doing here!?"

"I'm here to take your Millennium Puzzle, Yugi. Marik may have wanted you to stay in the tournament so he could win your god card and banish you to the shadows, but I don't have the patience to beat you in a duel. Not now. Besides, that fool Joey holds that Slifer dragon now doesn't he?"

"You're working with Marik!?" Yugi gasped, recalling the tall hooded figure.

' _Yugi_ ,' Yami spoke from inside the small boy's mind. ' _I will handle this foe. He can't overpower us on his own._ '

The Millennium Puzzle glimmered a brilliant gold and Yugi raised his chin, when he lowered it back his eyes held a fierce determination that didn't belong to the shy boy who'd stood there previously.

"Now that I know for sure that you're back, evil spirit, I will expose you to the others! As well as your secret dealings with Marik!"

"You'll be too busy suffering in the Shadow Realm to do any of that." The long-haired boy laughed quietly.

"Just try to use your powers on me!" Yugi shouted, and waved his arm. "I may be out of this tournament, but I will not sit by and allow you or anyone else to use dark magic to interfere with the other duellists!"

Two Millennium Items charged gold light at each other in a stand-off of power.

"You don't even know how to properly control your powers, even now." Bakura laughed and reached behind him. "Plus you're outnumbered two to one."

"What?" Yugi gasped as Bakura revealed what he was holding, Pegasus's Millennium Eye. "How did you?!"

It started glowing and Yugi gasped in pain, his body tensing up. The power of Bakura's magic was so strong that he was being brought to his knees. The white-haired boy laughed as he casually approached.

"Yes, it's true. I stole this item from Pegasus. With two in my possession I have more strength than both you and Marik. His proficiency with that rod is great, but with three items in my possession he will not be able to deny me a fourth." Bakura reached out with a wicked grin as he approached his kneeling victim.

Suddenly a third light illuminated the room and both teenagers turned in shock to see a white-robed man who appeared beside them. He wore a white turban on his head, the Millennium Key strapped around the dark skin of his neck.

"Shadi!" Yugi recognized the mysterious figure from Duellist Kingdom. The keeper of the Millennium Items.

"It's you!" Bakura snarled and stepped back, bunching his fists.

"You will not harm the Pharaoh, thief king." He spoke with a calm neutrality.

"Don't be so sure! After I take Yugi's item I'll be ripping that key off your cold corpse!" Despite Bakura's threats Yugi was now getting back to his feet, the binding magic gone.

"Do not forgot that I too possess more than one Millennium Item." Shadi threatened. "The key and the scales. With the Pharaoh we both possess three, making you outnumbered in terms of power." He tilted his head. "Watch yourself, soon all of the items will return to the hands of good."

Bakura let out a furious growl before shooting Yugi a dark look.

"We shall see who is first to obtain all the power on this ship!" He marched past Yugi, their eyes staring each other down as Bakura exited through the opening door. Light filled Yugi's room once more as Bakura's white hair flicked behind him on his way out.

"Thank you, Shadi…" Yugi breathed and turned to the man who stared after Bakura.

"You are welcome, my Pharaoh."

"This tournament truly is dangerous… and I feel powerless now that I've lost my place in it."

"Something has happened to change the course of destiny." He lowered his head and closed his eyes, the gold hoops on his ears glinting in the light. "We must all do what we can to fight against the evils on board this ship."

"But how?"

"All seven Millennium Items are here, as such I've made my way on."

"All seven?" Yugi gasped and then narrowed his eyes at the floor in thought. "I have the puzzle. You have the key and scales. Marik holds the rod. The evil spirit has both Bakura's ring and now Pegasus's eye. So who holds the seventh item?"

Yugi looked up in surprise when he noticed Shadi was gone. He'd cloaked himself with his invisibility magic and was again walking the halls unnoticed. Frowning to himself he clenched his fists before another announcement sounded out over the intercom.

"Finalists please return to the main hall for the selection of the second match of the Battle City Finals."

' _Let's go_ ,' Yugi mentally spoke to Yami. ' _It's our job now to protect the others from Marik and Bakura's meddling in any way that we can_.'

* * *

Marik Ishtar – the real one again – stood with his arms crossed in the crowd of duellists, secretly bemused. Around him Joey, the Pharaoh and their stupid friends were tense and facing Bakura as he approached the group in the main hall with the Millennium Ring in plain view around his neck. He was no longer trying to hide his identity, which didn't really matter at this point. The Pharaoh had lost Slifer to his incompetent friend (who admittedly wasn't _that_ incompetent, the turnabout of their duel had honestly astounded Marik).

While being unable to summon Slifer, Joey had proved his resilience by defying Marik's mind control in the past and even eliminating the Pharaoh in the first round. Thus denying Marik the pleasure.

Initially the topic of discussion had been Joey's busted lip and Kaiba's bruised cheek. The tall instigator of their tournament stood by his security guards, ignoring all questions about a supposed scuffle. His little brother looked at him worriedly, but he seemed his composed self now as he waited for all the duellists to arrive.

When the Pharaoh made it down he'd informed them all of Bakura's secret identity, giving them time to form an angry line as their confident enemy approached them. A ways behind him Odeon also approached while wielding his fake Egyptian relic. _These fools are terrified of both me and the evil spirit of Bakura's ring_ , Marik thought with wicked amusement. The tension in the air was tangible.

Bakura stopped and faced off against the teens that opposed him angrily.

Marik had tried to look confused at Yugi's explanation of Bakura being evil now. The blonde woman duellist also didn't seem to understand and eyed her motionless competitor with trepidation. Odeon simply walked around the still Bakura and stood patiently away from the crowd.

"Alright let's go!" Kaiba couldn't seem to stand waiting any longer. He was frustrated, not caring at all about whatever was going on between the Pharaoh and his friends.

His suited henchman stepped onto the podium and they all watched as he raised his arm.

"The finalists for the second match will now be chosen! Begin random selection!"

The plastic balls inside the glass sphere immediately began bouncing around. Marik grinned wickedly to himself, perhaps it would be his turn to send another soul to the shadows. A ball was soon sucked into the mouth of the Blue-Eyes replica and spat out. Everyone leaned forward in anticipation.

"Duellist number 8 has been chosen! Ishizu Ishtar!"

 _What?!_ Marik's face immediately went slack.

"I'm here to stop you, my brother!" A woman's voice announced and they all whipped around to face the duellist in white, a shawl atop her head and her Millennium Necklace sparkling.

 _Ishizu?! She's going to ruin everything!_ Marik and Odeon were both more shocked than everyone else, the other duellists quickly recovered. Her eyes were glued to her brother and he felt his façade slipping from between his fingers.

"Ishizu!" The Pharaoh cried.

"It's her!" Tea added. "The woman we met at the museum, the one who knew about those stone carvings!"

"Ishizu!" Kaiba looked shocked for the second time since his finals had started. "How did you get into my tournament without me noticing, let alone the finals?!"

"I have my ways, Kaiba."

"If you're here to take back Obelisk the Tormentor there's no way you're setting one foot off this blimp with that card in your deck!" He threatened. It was clear that his control over his own contest had been progressively slipping.

Ishizu merely closed her eyes before returning their stare to Marik.

"As I just said… my family matters are of greater concern to me at the moment."

"Arrrggghhhhh!" Marik screamed and abruptly whipped his Millennium Rod out of the invisible pocket-space it'd sealed itself within. He swung the gold item and it glowed threateningly. The Pharaoh and his friends turned and jumped out of the way like frightened rabbits. The space between him and his sister cleared right down the middle and her necklace glowed in retaliation, although Ishizu remained calm and collected.

"You will not continue to meddle with my plans, sister!" Marik snarled while pointing his magical weapon at her.

"N-Namu…?" Someone trembled stupidly in confusion.

Odeon looked aghast from the sidelines. Bakura smirked in amusement.

"What the hell is going on here!?" Kaiba raised his fists in outrage.

It was the smaller Kaiba brother who urged the stunned henchman to continue. The glass machine whirred as it made its second selection, only no one was looking at it this time. Marik was enraged, firing arrows of hate at his sister through wide veiny eyes. Kaiba was grinding his teeth, the surrounding teenagers eyed Marik with growing horror and recognition. Slowly everything on the edges of his vision became a blur around Marik's staunch new rival.

"Ishizu will be duelling… number 7! That is to say… um…"

"Odeon Ishtar," Ishizu turned her face to the bald tattooed man who'd been posing as Marik.

Marik lowered his rod and tried to calm himself down. _Yes, this is good_. Odeon would use his carefully constructed deck, as well as his elaborate fake god card to defeat Ishizu.

"You mean to tell me that guy's not Marik?" One of the idiot teens continued to gasp. "Namu is actually Marik?"

"Yes you fools!" Marik turned to sneer at the onlookers before whipping around to his servant. "Odeon! You will proceed to the upper levels and crush her immediately!"

"…Yes, master Marik." He responded before narrowing his eyes at Ishizu. "You shouldn't have come. You shouldn't have continued to interfere with our plans."

"You have done what you can to protect our brother, Odeon. For that I thank you," Ishizu's softened expression turned hard. "But you have allowed him to stray to the dark side! By defeating Marik and reclaiming the Winged Dragon of Ra I will do what's in his best interests to truly keep him safe!"

"Then let us discover whose will to protect and serve him is stronger, dear sister." Odeon replied smoothly in his deep voice. "Let's ascend to the stratos level and settle this now! Tomb keeper versus tomb keeper!"

* * *

Mai Valentine got the feeling a lot more was going on in this tournament than she at first thought. She stood yet again in the secondary elevator with her arms crossed and looked around at everyone else, feeling like she knew the least of everyone here. Kaiba was completely still, obviously gripped by the anger that'd unravelled since the last duel and robbed him of his usual calm. His younger brother watched on worriedly. Yugi stared out the wide glass tube they shot upwards in, he seemed lost. Joey was now mad, silently fuming beside his frightened sister. Tea, Tristan and Duke each looked downwards in sad thought. Their classmate Bakura had decided to wait and catch the elevator up by himself, either that or he didn't care to watch this next duel. Namu/Marik had also decided to wait behind.

 _This duel sure promises to be dramatic_ , Mai thought to herself. _And I have no idea what's going on between everyone here_.

She thought to question Joey once they all filed out onto the voyeur's platform. When the steel doors did slide apart Kaiba was the first to storm out importantly and they all spread around once out to watch as the two contenders and the referee took their marks. The guy everyone was now calling Odeon had thrown his hood back, revealing an atrocious haircut. His dark head was bald safe for a pony-tail at the back, really what was he thinking? He still looked quite threatening as he raised his duel-disk and it slid together and activated, shimmering with rainbow light. The only other female duellist raised her arm elegantly and her disk manoeuvred into place as well.

"I don't know what all you Ishtar clowns think you're up to!" Kaiba suddenly barked. "But I'm going to get through these first rounds as quickly as possible, all that matters is that all three Egyptian God Cards end up in _my_ deck!"

"May the second match of the Battle City Finals begin!" The referee swung his arm down as if this were a pro-wrestling match. Two holographic rectangles appeared and beeped their way up to 4000 points.

At that moment the elevator doors on their level opened to reveal the grey-haired _real_ Marik, holding his glowing rod-thing overhead. There was no Bakura in there with him.

"Hear me now, Ishizu!" He called out to her. "By using my Millennium Rod on the sidelines I can prevent you from foreseeing Odeon's moves and the outcome of this match! Good luck trying to cheat your way to victory this time!"

"As if someone like Marik can call anyone else a cheat!" Joey spat.

"What he's saying is true," Yugi spoke up. "A Millennium Item is the only thing that can go up against another. Marik and Ishizu both have one."

"I can't believe Ishizu is Marik's sister!" Tea exclaimed "Talk about a dysfunctional family…"

"Enough of this fantasy nonsense!" Kaiba yelled. "Begin the duel!"

Both duellists drew their hands from their decks.

* * *

 **I did like the idea of Marik duelling as Namu but oh well, maybe I'll save that one for the Alternate Alternate Battle City Finals? So Marik's identity has been revealed and it's tomb keeper versus tomb keeper. Next chapter another duel can start and I'm sure it'll be another dramatic one, full of Ishtar family tension!**


	8. 08

**Sorry presea221, but you were the only one who reviewed last chapter and as I said I'm not going to bother updating this if people aren't going to review. I have other stories after all on FictionPress with regular readers that actually leave comments. Thanks for your detailed feedback though!**

* * *

08 - Ishizu vs Odion: Part One

* * *

"As Ishizu Ishtar was the first duellist chosen for this match she will take the first turn!" The suited referee announced as the duelling platform elevated itself into the gusty night air.

"With pleasure." She murmured with determination. "I summon Kelbek in attack position!" A mechanical fairy on 1500 leered forward and sparkled with electricity. "Then I'll set one card face-down and end my turn." The hologram appeared by her feet and she eyed her opponent expectantly.

Odion drew a card and then surveyed his hand. Ishizu's eyes were drawn to the crowd of witnesses, to her brother. Marik had an evil grin, the Millennium Rod he held loftily was glowing from its eye as was the symbol on his forehead. Ishizu's necklace lit up with a temporary flash but it was pointless. It felt like the frequencies of their items were constantly altering, adjusting themselves in a pointless effort to overpower the other. It would do no good – in this duel Marik would be unable to control Odion or her, but Ishizu would be unable to see the future.

Their mystical powers were evenly matched.

Ishizu wasn't used to her powers being blocked, she wasn't used to duelling this way. Her confidence had been knocked ever since she'd first experienced the shift of their destinies.

"I activate Graceful Charity!" Odion returned his opponent's attention back to him as the card depicting an angel appeared on the field. "Now I can draw three cards and discard any two I want." His hand whipped to his deck and he quickly made his decision, slipping the rejected cards into his graveyard slot. "Now I'll set three cards face-down and end my turn!"

Odion watched his dear sister grimace. With master Marik's power influencing their duel she would be unable to predict the traps he'd set. Odion knew full well that any monster that attacked Kelbek would be sent back to its owner's hand afterwards – he wasn't about to give her an advantage like that.

"No monsters?" Ishizu drew a card from her deck. "Big mistake Odion. I summon Zolga!" A cybernetic torso with a ghostly purple cloth fluttering beneath it appeared. Its visor glowed red and a holographic box displaying 1700 appeared.

From the audience Tea and Serenity gasped.

"Another fairy." Mai spoke up. "I know that card. If it's tributed for a summon its owner gains 2000 life points. Those monsters are both pretty rare."

"She sure has some strong creatures." Yugi spoke up in agreement.

"Reveal face-down!" Ishizu raised her arm. "Heavy Storm will destroy all spell and trap cards on the field, allowing my two monsters to attack you directly!"

"Not quite!" Odion roared back in retaliation. "Activate Judgement of Anubis!" A trap card flipped upwards.

"Oh no!"

"I won't let you get rid of my trap cards, Ishizu." He smirked. "Your monsters may be rare but so are my traps. This card not only negates an effect that would destroy my set cards, but by discarding from my hand I can destroy one of your monsters… and inflict its attack points to you as damage!"

Gasps sang out from the spectators as a black Egyptian jackal statue raised itself from the field, surrounded by a deathly purple mist. The smog coalesced and then fired itself at Zolga, the monster was swallowed and its form shuddered before crumbling apart. The darkness then leapt out the back of it, rebounding through Ishizu's magic card and connecting with her duel disk when she shielded herself. The image of Heavy Storm shattered and her teeth were clenched as wide eyes watched her life counter beep its way down to 2300.

"Hmph." Odion crossed his arms as his trap faded from view. "That one card allowed me to take out almost half your life points. But you still have one monster, so why don't you attack me if you want to risk it again?"

He still had two cards face-down but Ishizu clenched her fists.

"It was only luck that you had that card. Kelbek! Attack Odion's life points directly!"

"Come forth Embodiment of Apophis!" Yet another trap revealed itself and an armed purple snake monster with a head sprouting out of its armoured torso slivered forth out of its card and onto the field. It pointed its sword threateningly and hissed, a box appeared displaying 1600.

"A trap-monster?" Ishizu wavered.

"Since you can't attack my life points now that there's a monster on the field you can reselect an attack target. As my Embodiment of Apophis is stronger than your Kelbek you may want to reconsider however."

"I switch Kelbek to defence mode and end my turn."

"A smart choice." Odion watched the monster change to a guard-stance as its card appeared beneath it. He glanced at the next card he drew. "I set another two cards face-down and end my turn."

 _He has yet to even summon a monster._ Ishizu thought, half-frustrated and half-worried. _I know that monster, it's an exceptionally rare breed of card known as a trap monster. They belong to Marik. If Odion isn't summoning any monsters… does that mean his deck is full of those cards?_

The woman drew from her deck and studied her hand.

"Very well, Odion. Just because I can no longer see the future of our duel doesn't mean I'm going to lose!"

"You have no idea how to play on my level, sister."

"We shall see! I equip Kelbek with the Cestus of Dagla!" Two golden C-shaped blades with both ends connected by a handle were gripped by her mechanical monster. "Not only does this increase his attack to 2000 but I now gain life points for all damage it inflicts to you! And now I'll summon Mudora, a monster who gains strength for every fairy in my graveyard!"

A muscled warrior with a sword appeared, its head and torso was gold and patterned like an ancient Egyptian statue. He swung his weapon and huffed, his point box beeping up to 1700. "I know you still have three face-down cards, so I'll use this: Mystical Space Typhoon!"

"Didn't I already tell you I wouldn't let you destroy my traps?" Odion jeered. "Reveal Magic Jammer!" The card flipped up and electrified Ishizu's spell until it exploded, the shawled woman hesitated. "Both of your monsters now outmatch my Embodiment of Apophis, so why don't you attack me?"

"Fine! Go Mudora!" She declared. "You may have destroyed Zolga before I could gain life points, but I can still reclaim mine with the Cestus of Dagla!"

"Heh. Don't count on it… because you just triggered not one but both of my face-down cards!"

"What?"

"Reveal Dark Mirror Force! This card activates when you declare an attack, destroying all of your defence position monsters."

"My monsters are both in attack mode?"

"Which is why I also activated Curse of Anubis, which will force all of your effect monsters to change their battle positions!"

"Oh no!" Ishizu watched her monsters shrink away from another rising dog statue, kneeling in defence before Odeon's black glass shield fired a wave of pulsating darkness that made her monsters cripple then explode. The abilities of her monsters, her equip spell strategy, all of it had been wiped out before she could even use them.

"Is that all you can do Ishizu?" Odion paused while his opponent could only glare. "Then it's my move and you have no cards on the field or in your hand! Embodiment of Apophis, attack her life points directly!" The big man ordered and his hissing monster lunged, its blade swung through the woman in white and her life point counter decreased to only 700. "My life points haven't even been touched while yours are almost gone! I set another card face-down. Better hope your next card can save you."

"How… did this happen?" Ishizu never considered that losing her magical advantage would result to this. Was she really that out of practice?

"Hahaha!" Marik laughed in malevolent glee. "You used to duel circles around me when we were children, Ishizu. Oh how the times have changed! You've enabled yourself to weaken while my skills have only grown! How did you possibly expect to beat _me_ in this contest if you can only play by relying on that necklace!?" Marik taunted and then burst into dark chuckles that had him clenching his stomach.

"Marik…"

"Don't listen to him Ishizu!" Yugi called out and his enemy stopped laughing to growl at him.

"Pharaoh?"

"You also understand the significance of this tournament and you possess a Millennium Item! You know the strengths of the Egyptian god monsters! I may not be in this tournament anymore but we _need_ people like you to stop Marik!"

"Enough with the distractions!" Kaiba interrupted them angrily. "Continue the duel!"

 _Thank you, Pharoah_. Ishizu nodded at Yugi, noticing the determination in his gaze. Drawing from her deck she revealed "Pot of Duality! I reveal three cards and can pick one of them while the others must be shuffled back into my deck!" Ishizu looked at the cards and frowned, no monsters. But "Reasoning is a magic card that forces you to guess a monster level, then I reveal the next monster in my deck. If you guess it wrong Odion, I can play that monster."

"Tch," Odion scowled. _It's most likely a level four monster, they're the most common level. If I don't pick a high level though it means she could automatically summon a powerful monster._ He deliberated for a while.

"Well?"

"Four!"

"My next monster is on level 3, so I set it on the field in face-down defence position."

"How pointless, you still have no cards in your hand." Odion drew and then began his turn. "While I still have four. Reveal face-down! A second Embodiment of Apophis!" An identical monster slithered out onto the field. "Now I can wipe you out of this tournament! Go, attack!"

"My monster is… Kotodama!" A black humanoid woman in a blue rag with hieroglyphics all over her body appeared. "Recognize this card, Odion?" Ishizu taunted back. "This fairy destroys all monsters on the field that share the same name!"

Splaying her hands the monster shrieked, sending shockwaves at the charging snake monster and its watching duplicate. Odion's creatures writhed while clutching their ears before exploding.

"A lucky draw Ishizu!"

"Seems like it's my turn to be lucky, is that the end of your turn Odion?"

"I set one card face-down. Let's see what you can do!"

"Only one?" Ishizu drew a card and then smirked. "Could it be that your face-down is another trap-monster?" She watched his eyebrows narrow. "I summon Aurora Paragon in attack mode!" An angel wearing gold armour soared upwards, unleashing a dazzling iridescent light onto the field. "This monster only has 1500 attack, what's more it's automatically destroyed when one of us normal summons a monster. However it has a unique ability, as long as it's on the field neither of us are allowed to special summon. If your deck truly is filled with nothing but traps and trap-monsters then I shouldn't have to worry about my Aurora Paragon being destroyed."

"It can't be!" Odion roared in frustration.

"Aurora Paragon attack his life points directly!" Ishizu pointed across the field and her angel soared, flying straight through the flinching Odion and leaving rainbow light settling in its wake. He grit his teeth as his life point counter reduced to 2500. "I suppose it was another trap-monster after all." Ishizu spoke with a snarky smile. "I won't change my Kotodama to attack mode because it has zero attack, so it's your turn."

Furiously Odion whipped out another card from his deck.

"Listen to me Odion!" Marik commanded. "I want you to crush her with the Winged Dragon of Ra!"

Everyone stared at him in shock.

"You gave Odion your Winged Dragon of Ra card?" Ishizu gasped at her brother. "But why?"

"Master Marik?"

"Do it you fool!"

"Odion…" Ishizu turned to face him. "I know we've had our differences, and even though my brother's evil may have warped your mind as well, I still know that you care for him and that your heart is in the right place."

"It's too late for this, Ishizu." Odion replied solemnly.

"You're not blood-related to us or the tomb keeper's clan!" She pressed. "You won't even be able to summon Ra, you'll only hurt yourself!"

"Odion!" Marik screeched, looking bug-eyed and insane. "Crush her! Use the god card in your deck!"

"I must obey… Master Marik."

"Odion what are you going to do?" Ishizu demanded fearfully.

"I'll start with this! Dark Core!" He slid his magic card into his duel disk. "By discarding one card I can remove one monster from play. My target is… your Kotodama!"

"But why?" Ishizu watched as her defence monster was swallowed by a growing sphere of black energy. She removed it from her duel disk.

"Because you were wrong about something very important, Ishizu. I do have monsters I can normal summon in this deck. Just these, and I needed your Kotodama gone so I could summon them. Come forth, Ra's Disciple!"

Everyone watched on as a kneeling servant in gold dragon-like armour appeared on the field. His defence registered as 600. Ishizu stared fearfully as her angel sank down, its rainbow light dimming until it was also destroyed from its own effect.

Odion raised his head "Once summoned to the field I can bring two other Ra's Disciples from my deck and play them also." He slid his deck out neatly and started fishing through his cards.

"But… does that mean…?" Ishizu blinked. "The only other card left in your hand is the Winged Dragon of Ra?"

"Not quite." Odion smirked as two other identical monsters appeared beside the first servant. "My last card is Gold Sarcophagus!" He announced and revealed his magic card. A gold Egyptian coffin emerged from the ground with an ominous rumble. "I can take any monster from my deck and place it within the sarcophagus. After two standby phases it will go to my hand, so… on my next turn I'll tribute my Ra's Disciples and finish you off with an Egyptian god!"

"O-Odion…" Ishizu couldn't believe it. _Does his loyalty to Marik completely outweigh the childhood we also shared? If he attacks me with Ra I could be seriously injured. But Odion shouldn't even be able to play that card… unless the mystery behind Odion's ancestry has been revealed by Marik and he also has a connection to Ancient Egypt!_

"Were it possible I'd reveal my face-down trap monster now, but Ra's Disciple makes me unable to attack or special summon in the turn I use his effect." Odion pointed harshly at his sibling. "So draw your last card Ishizu! Next turn you will all witness the Winged Dragon of Ra and he'll finish you off!"

* * *

 **Review if you want me to update and I'll keep going with this. Will Odeon summon the Winged Dragon of Ra next chapter? Is this duel going how you expected it to? How will Ishizu fair against the wrath of Mega Ultra Chicken? Please leave me your feedback, I thrive on it! All recommendations and suggestions are appreciated!**


	9. 09

**Okay you know I can't resist spam writing and uploading more chapters when I'm in the middle of a duel. I mean my plan for it is just sitting there. I also felt bad for you presea221. I'm flattered you like my story so much!**

* * *

09 - Ishizu vs Odion: Part Two

* * *

"I draw… Card of Sanctity!" Ishizu declared and Odion merely scoffed. Both players began drawing their new hands.

"Now things will probably get crazy again…" Duke spoke up from the sidelines.

"Yeah." Joey added. "Neither player had a card in their hand but now both of them have six."

"Ishizu's still in a lot of trouble though," Tea mumbled. "She has almost two thousand life points less than Odion, plus no monsters on the field while that creep has three and will be getting that god card thing next turn." She looked at Yugi, understanding a little about Marik's god card from his explanation in Joey's room earlier. None of them knew its power or abilities.

"Oh no," Serenity bunched her arms up to her chest. "That guy's working for Marik over there… the one who tried to drown my brother after brainwashing him to fight Yugi."

"That's right." Tristan narrowed his eyes at the match. "And Ishizu wants to stop Marik, which means she's on our side too."

"We believe in you Ishizu!" Yugi cupped his mouth to shout again. "We'll cheer you on and support you no matter what it takes!"

The woman in the shawl was confused by the eager teenagers, but then she smiled. She couldn't rely on her Millennium Necklace, but perhaps she could rely on those strange kids for encouragement. And the Pharaoh.

Plus Shadi was somewhere on the blimp, maybe watching as well.

"Are you prepared for this, Odion?"

"Only if you've finished reading through your cards for the third time."

The tall robed man's life point counter routinely beeped, displaying 2500. Ishizu's revealed her 700.

"I set two cards face-down on the field!" She slid them in one at a time and they projected before her. "Now I cast Spell Reproduction! It allows me to discard two other spell cards from my hand to bring back one from my graveyard."

"A heavy price." Odion remarked.

"But worth it, for now I play my Mystical Space Typhoon! This time you won't counter it! I destroy Gold Sarcophagus and send your Winged Dragon of Ra to the graveyard!" Her supporters cheered while Marik's henchman gritted his teeth. The whipping tornado struck the gold coffin and it shattered. "Next I'll summon another fairy monster: Barrier Statue of the Heavens!"

A golden pedestal descended to the field and glowed with yellow light. A holographic square displayed 1000 attack points. "As long as this monster is in play the only monsters that can be special summoned must have a light attribute! Considering The Winged Dragon of Ra is a divine monster you can't reborn it, and I doubt that set card or any of your other trap-monsters are light attributed either!"

"Impressive sister." He lowered his head with a smirk. "So your skills haven't faded yet."

"No they have not! Barrier Statue of the Heavens, destroy one of his Ra's Disciples!" She commanded and her monster's glow brightened, firing off a bolt of lightning that hit one of the kneeling servants and made it explode. "It's time for me to reveal a strategy of my own. Your move Odion."

"You're still a far ways off from winning this game, what's more your Spell Reproduction caused you to lose all the cards in your hand. While I" he dramatically plucked another card from his deck "now have seven! There are more ways for my deck to beat you than that god card, silly girl."

Scowling Odion inspected his hand. He needed to get rid of that statue. His green eyes moved menacingly from his cards to his opponent.

Ishizu's face became suddenly sad as a memory of Odion smiling kindly while placing a bandaid on her knee surfaced. She shook it away.

"I play Temple of the Kings! Now I can play any of my trap cards immediately without having to set them first!" From behind him an Egyptian-themed temple rose from the ground, two columns on either side ignited at the top with illusionary fire. "Next I switch my two Disciples to attack mode!" They both stood up and the cards beneath them vanished, both had 1100 points. "Destroy her meddling statue so I can win this duel!" One of them lunged bearing an armoured fist.

"My turn to trap you! Negate Attack!" Ishizu waved her arm and the card flipped upwards.

"Your traps are still a far cry from mine. I'll beat you next turn. Go."

"With pleasure." She drew. "Just the card I needed. Come forth Keldo!" A strange green and bronze mechanical fairy appeared in a burst of light on 1200. "Attack another Ra's Disciple!" Her monster hummed and blasted through another screaming gold warrior. It shattered and Odion didn't even flinch as his life points decreased by 100. Ishizu clenched her fist "Barrier Statue move to defence mode. I end my turn."

"Alright!" Odion began his turn. "I'll set these three cards face-down for later. Now destroy her Barrier Statue of the Heavens!" His last monster surged forth and Ishizu grimaced, it landed right on top of hers, its punch cracking it into pieces that fizzled away. "Ha! I don't know what that second face-down card of yours is but it doesn't look like it can help you very much! Now I can special summon all I want!"

Ishizu drew her next card angrily. _He has three cards face-down on the field now… but they can't all be traps otherwise he would've set them last turn when I destroyed his monster. Maybe they're more trap-monsters? But due to his Temple of the Kings he no longer has to set them face down… Is he trying to confuse me?_

"Keldo destroy his final Ra's Disciple!"

"Activate Sakuretsu Armour!" Odion bellowed and his monster's gold plating became dull green, covering its entire body and spiking out dangerously like a porcupine. Keldo rebounded, fizzled and then exploded. Ishizu gasped while Odion merely smiled. "This is the difference between your traps and mine. My cards are stronger. Your only advantage is seeing the future, but this deck was helped crafted by master Marik's army of rare hunters!"

"I activate Keldo's effect." Ishizu's blue eyes were determined. "Now I can choose two cards in your graveyard and have you shuffle them into your deck. I pick The Winged Dragon of Ra and one of your Ra's Disciples!"

Odion narrowed his eyes in confusion. _Is this just so she can keep me from using a Monster Reborn?_ Regardless he did as instructed and then began his turn.

"I reveal a face-down card, Metal Reflect Slime!" A pulsating orb of mercury began writhing in the air. _Yes, it's just as you feared. Another trap-monster_! Suddenly it expanded into a huge defensive horned monster on 3000. "None of your pitiful fairies will be able to get through this card! And watch this: I sacrifice my final Ra's Disciple to summon Mystical Beast of Serket!"

"Not that card!" She gasped as the giant purple scorpion emitted a ghastly squeaking roar, a box appeared displaying 2500.

"Yes, I now have two incredibly powerful monsters on the field! Mystical Beast of Serket can only be played while Temple of the Kings is on the field, it also removes from play any monster it destroys and gains 500 attack after doing so!"

 _But that's not all_ , Odion thought to himself. _By sacrificing both Temple of the Kings and Mystical Beast of Serket I can summon any monster I want from my deck to the field. You thought returning The Winged Dragon of Ra to my deck would keep me from being able to play it? How foolish_. Odion knew however that if special summoned his god card would have zero attack points. It's only useful ability would be to automatically destroy one of Ishizu's monsters after Odion gave up 1000 life points. Since she had no monsters to protect her anyway there would be no point in bringing it forth. Yet.

Odion was glad. He would've summoned the god card to appease master Marik, but he wasn't entirely confident in his own abilities to control its great might. Master Marik had explained how drained the Pharaoh had looked in the last duel while he tried to control Slifer. Odion honestly didn't know if he had it in him to bring forth the mightiest of the three gods.

He was glad to see he wouldn't have to take that risk.

"Mystical Beast of Serket!" Odion roared. "Attack her life points directly! I'm sure if that one face-down card could've helped you would've played it before! I'm winning this duel now!" The clicking giant scorpion pulled its tail back in preparation to strike.

"No you're not!" Ishizu snapped. "From my hand I use the ability of Rainbow Kuriboh!" She slapped a card onto her duel disk and a hairless purple ball with a rainbow crest appeared and blinked its big eyes. "He'll equip to your scorpion and make it unable to attack!" With an eager chirp the creature sprang forth and attached itself to the threatening monster, just above its Millennium eye. The insect shuddered and then froze.

"Stop your stalling already!" Odion shouted, sick and tired of her dodges. "You can't beat me so stop delaying your defeat!"

"I told you I had a strategy, didn't I?" Ishizu plucked a card from her disk. "This isn't me simply delaying out of desperation. I'm waiting for the exact right moment to strike."

"With a defence of 3000 and another monster on 2500 you don't have a hope!" Odion insisted. _That's it, I'll sacrifice Temple of the Kings and my immobilized monster to bring out Ra next turn. I have to put an end to this foolishness._

"Card of Demise! In five turns I must discard my hand but for now I may draw five cards. This duel will be over before I need to however."

"I couldn't agree more. Considering your recklessness with cards they'll most likely be gone before my next turn anyway."

"I set another two cards face-down and set one monster on the field. That ends my turn, Odion."

He drew another card and hesitated. _I can wipe her out with this instead of Ra. It's better to use the god card as only a last resort. I must hurry though, master Marik is getting impatient._ In the viewing area Odion could see the grey-haired man grinding his teeth together in fury.

"Thanks to Temple of the Kings I summon yet another Embodiment of Apophis!" The reptilian fiend slithered out and brandished its sword. "And I'll equip it with this, an incredibly rare card I just drew: Mage Power! It increases one monster's attack and defence by five hundred for every spell and trap card on my side of the field!" A fiery cauldron appeared and its magical flame curled into his monster which ignited with power. "So let's count, shall we? I still have two cards face-down and possess two trap-monsters. Embodiment of Apophis is increased by 2000!"

A beat of sweat ran down Ishizu's forehead as she watched the monster grow, an attack box appeared and beeped up to 3600. He now had three monsters on his side of the field each with very high points.

 _I can't risk summoning Ra and failing, it could cost me my life and then I won't be able to help my master advance in this tournament. Please, be patient with me for a moment longer_. Odion stared at the glaring man on the sidelines. "Go my Apophis, destroy her monster!"

Ishizu's Skelengel flipped upwards, the weak archer fairy squealed before getting crushed by Apophis's sabre.

"Thanks to its effect I may draw one card." She said.

"Draw another. My turn's done." _Did she not reveal one of her three face-downs so she could use her monster's effect? Or is there another reason?_

"Yes, this will do. I set another card face-down and set a monster as well. Your turn."

"What are you playing at Ishizu?! This has become foolish!" Odion drew. "I set another card to make my monster even stronger!" The snake fiend hissed and grew, its power now over four thousand. "Attack!"

"Reveal Agido!" The red oval-shaped fairy with pincers appeared but was quickly smashed by a giant blade. "Once he's gone I can summon a fairy monster from my graveyard whose level is the result of a die roll!" Over the fading pieces of her monster a red and gold die spun itself and bounced in place, settling on 2. "Skelengel comes back to the field." Her archer fairy settled itself back in defence mode.

"You have delayed for long enough, Odion!" Marik lashed the air with his Millennium Rod. "On your next turn you _will_ call forth The Winged Dragon of Ra! Is that understood?"

"Yes… master Marik." Odeon conceded but by the subtle shakes of his hand Ishizu could tell that he was terrified. Another memory: them both tending to their younger brother sick in bed under order of their father. She composed herself.

"Then it's time for me to get on with this." Ishizu stated and drew her card. "The stage is set and the time is now! Are you ready, Odion?"

"Get on with it."

"With pleasure! I cast Pot of Benevolence! I can select two cards from either player's graveyard and have them shuffled back into that player's deck. I'm picking your graveyard Odion and sending back your two Embodiment of Apophis cards!"

"Returning more cards from my graveyard?" He extracted his discard pile. "What are you planning?"

"Don't put your cards back just yet Odion." She answered slyly. "Reveal face-down, The Transmigration Prophecy! This trap allows me to send another two cards from your graveyard back to your deck. This time it will be two of your Ra's Disciples!"

"Why are you doing this?" Odion demanded.

"Watch and learn. This next part is complex. I use Dian Keto the Cure Master to increase my life points by 1000. Next I'll sacrifice Skelengel to summon Sky Scourge Invicil!" A winged fairy appeared with long nails and white feathery hair that sprouted out and back from the top half of its face. "This monster gains a certain effect depending on the monster sacrificed to summon it. Because Skelengel was a light attributed fairy all face-up magic cards are now destroyed!" Hissing the monster released a stream of purple lightning and Embodiment of Apophis shrank back down to its original size. Ishizu's monster leered forward on 2200. "Attack!"

Odion shielded himself as his trap-monster was viciously scratched apart, his life points decreased to 1700.

"Wow look guys!" Tea exclaimed. "Their life points are equal now!"

"So what?" Odion snarled. "I'll still be able to summon Ra next turn."

"Not so, Odion. I play a spell card from my hand and use it in conjunction with a trap card on the field! Card Destruction and the trap card Null and Void!"

"What?" Odion stepped back.

"What's she doing?" Yugi murmured from down below.

"Hm?" Mai turned to look at him and so did Joey.

"Card Destruction forces them to discard their hands and draw five cards, but Null and Void specifically forces players to discard any cards they are made to draw. So not only do they discard all cards they were holding but a further five from on top of their decks."

"For most of this duel Ishizu has been taking cards out of freak-boy's graveyard and discarding more and more into her own." Mai stated with her arms crossed.

"I guess she really did have a strategy after all." Joey turned to continue watching, intrigued.

"Tell me Odion, did you end up discarding your Winged Dragon of Ra?" Ishizu spoke with her eyes closed in a peaceful expression.

"No. If your gamble was to see if my god card was in the top five cards of my deck you lucked out. I'll still be summoning it on my next turn by sacrificing my cards."

"I did take a gamble, Odion. But in fact I called it right. Reveal the card I left face-down on the field until now!" She raised both arms and everyone stared eagerly at her trap card. "Exchange of the Spirit! At the cost of 1000 life points we must now swap the cards in our decks with the cards in our graveyards!"

Both Odion and Marik's faces went slate.

Ishizu crossed her arms "You have some powerful trap cards now Odion, but virtually no monsters. One Ra's Disciple exists in your new deck, but the other two which I moved away are most likely in your graveyard. Same with your two Embodiment of Apophis cards. As for the one you do have I'm sure I can counter it with either Aurora Paragon or Barrier Statue of the Heavens. Your god card, of course, is now also in your graveyard meaning you can't summon it by sacrificing your immobile monster and Temple of the Kings. Also I didn't once see you play a card that can bring back a monster from the graveyard, so it's safe to say Ra is out of your reach for good now."

"You…" Odion was speechless.

Ishizu had more cards in her deck now, she'd been discarding them all throughout the match, using them up with seemingly careless abandon. She'd also been removing cards from his graveyard with Keldo and that spell and trap card. Ishizu hadn't seen the five cards Odion had discarded just then, or the two he discarded for Graceful Charity or the ones discarded for Dark Core and Judgement of Anubis.

Statistically though, Odion knew he stood no chance. Ishizu had the strongest attacking monster while neither of Odion's could attack. He also had no cards in his hand, the only draw card in his deck now was Graceful Charity and that only granted him one extra card. Ishizu had several draw cards. If Odion didn't deck out before her she'd eventually draw Cestus of Dagla and make her fairy strong enough to wipe out Mystical Beast of Serket. And when she draws Mystical Space Typhoon it would mean the end of Metal Reflect Slime as well. All of his face-downs were magic cards which couldn't help him, Ishizu had known as much because he hadn't used them immediately with Temple of the Kings or to stop her destroying his last Apophis monster.

"This ends my turn Odion. It appears that I didn't need future-sight to defeat you after all." At that the group of teens began cheering, the underdog turned victor. Marik was too astounded to start shouting at either of them.

With a shaky hand Odeon drew from his deck.

 _What?_ It was a card he'd discarded just before because of her Null and Void. He hadn't bothered to look very carefully when he threw it away but now his eyes narrowed in focus.

"It's over sister," his lips barely moved as he whispered. Rearing his head back Odion suddenly roared "I activate the magic card A Feather of the Phoenix! I return one card from my graveyard and put it on top of my deck. That card is the Winged Dragon of Ra! Next I sacrifice both Temple of the Kings and Mystical Beast of Serket to bring it out onto the field! Mighty sun god dragon, come forth!" He bellowed and the skies twisted, storm clouds rumbling and lightning zig-zagging about.

"He managed to summon Ra after all!" Ishizu called out in fear, raising her duel disk like a shield.

Through the now continuous strikes of lightning the face of a mighty gold dragon faded into view, large enough to swallow the entire blimp. It looked fuzzy however and the blasts of lightning only intensified, it felt to Ishizu like vengeance.

"What's the hell's going on here?!" Kaiba yelled as the strong winds buffeted the blimb and made everyone wobble where they stood.

Marik's deck started glowing with a brilliant sun-yellow light and he cried out from fear and pain, the energy was causing his whole duel disk to vibrate. He was taken by surprise and dropped his Millennium Rod, it clattered away from him and he fell to one knee.

"A fake card?" Ishizu realised. "Marik you fool!" _He's angered the god_.

Suddenly her Millennium Necklace glowed and Ishizu's mind became flooded with warning. Darting forward she dodged a lightning strike that blasted the ground where she'd been standing, causing the nearby railing to tear down the middle and glow red-hot. Looking up from her crouch she could see multiple other paths of lightning – her item's power was no longer hindered by Marik.

Jumping forward Ishizu dodged left and then weaved right, missing another two blasts. Gripping the railing she received another urgent vision.

"Odion!" She watched the man staring upwards entranced by the sky, a bolt of blinding white light connected with his head and consumed his body. It was gone in a flash and Odion fell forward, his clothes ragged and skin badly burned. He slumped and remained still. "Nooo!" Ishizu yelled but received another warning.

She moved away from the railing and it broke apart from another bolt, raining sparks down on the crowd of frightened spectators. Marik's eyes were wide as he looked up fearfully in his crouch, his deck was still glowing and vibrating, he looked to be paralysed.

The referee dived off the platform with a frightened mewl but Ishizu knew these strikes had also been aimed at her.

 _I can't get down and endanger the lives of everyone else._ Following her instincts she leapt toward the centre of the duelling area and curled both hands around her Millennium Necklace which began to glow brightly. "Mighty Ra! Quell your rage! The one who dishonoured you has been smote!" Another bolt of lightning came down directly above Ishizu, a gold beam from her item sprang up to meet it with a _shing_.

An explosion of light above. The god dragon's face faded from view. The clouds dissipated and the winds calmed. Standing atop the sizzling and damaged duelling arena, Ishizu lowered her raised arms and exhaled.

* * *

 **I didn't want to drag this duel out because lets face it, they're not THAT interesting of characters. Compared to everyone else who's been here since season one and of course the arc antagonist Marik. That's probably actually why people stopped reviewing. I tried as hard as I could to make this duel awesome though cause it was my original vision that these two go against each other. A long chapter but I didn't want to break it into three.**


	10. 10

**Thanks for reviewing guys, I promise the next duel will be the most intense by far! I have an epic plan to make it uber dramatic. You'll see. Either way enjoy reading the developments of these characters and their criss-crossing motives unfold.**

* * *

10 - The Stakes Are Raised

* * *

Kaiba stood quietly in shock like everyone else as the woman in white took another breath to calm herself. She stood in the centre of the elevated duel platform amidst black burn marks and warped railings with dying incandescence. When she opened her blue eyes they fixed on the badly injured man lying on his stomach, his face still and slack. _Ishizu… did she do all of this? Was all her magical mumbo jumbo not a lie?_ Kaiba's eyes narrowed fiercely. There was no way in hell he was handing her back the blue Egyptian god in his deck.

"Woah…" Mokuba was the first to speak up from beside his brother. "That duel was intense. Her opponent got knocked out cold! Those lightning bolts could've _killed_ any one of us! Come to think of it…" his eyes wavered and he turned to his brother. "You think that guy's dead, Seto?"

Kaiba opened his mouth to speak but everyone stopped at the sound of grunting and wheezing. Turning they all looked at Marik who was curling over on his knees. He clutched the Millennium Rod which was glowing with increasing brightness.

Ishizu took a tentative step towards her unconscious opponent but then her head turned to stare at her brother like everyone else. In a roar of pain and fury Marik threw his head back, the symbol on his forehead and item glowed so brightly that they covered his entire body. The spectators all cried out and shielded their eyes as a pulsating wave of light illuminated the top of the blimp for all of Domino City to see.

"Someone must have hacked control of my holographic projectors somehow!" Kaiba shouted out in pain. "This can't be real!"

"I'm afraid it is real Seto Kaiba, you fool." A demonic voice answered back.

The tall teen was temporarily blinded, he blinked until Marik was visible again. The guy seemed to be radiating power, his grey hair spiking up and a new kind of evil twisting his features. His lips pulled back to reveal teeth barred in a bloodthirsty grin.

"You!" Ishizu called out from above them. "You're the one who murdered our father! Let my brother go!"

"Foolish girl! You would've served Marik better by losing to his sworn protector, Odion. Now that he's on the brink of death there's nothing keeping me from controlling my host's body."

"What is this?" Yugi swallowed back his fear while his friends looked terrified. "Ishizu what is he talking about?"

"Marik… there's a darkness inside my brother that was lying dormant…"

"Until now." Crossing his arms the dark figure eyed Yugi. "I've been feeding on his soul for over a decade, infecting him with my evil and whispering into his mind."

"Could it be…" Yugi stepped back. "There is also an evil spirit dwelling within the Millennium Rod?"

"Call me what you like." The evil figure closed his eyes gently. "Now that I'm free I'll be able to win the legendary god cards and take the Pharaoh's power for myself."

"This…" Kaiba clenched his fists. "This is all just nonsense!"

"We've got more important things to worry about bro!" Mokuba spoke up with determination. "That man up there, Odion might need some serious help. We need to lower the stadium and get our on-board doctors to him quickly!"

"Rolund!" Kaiba faced away from the others and the suited man crawled around the stadium on his hands and knees.

"Sir?" He looked terrified and was holding a handkerchief to his bleeding broken nose.

"Call the match. Odion may have been ahead in life points, but if he's unable to continue the duel then it's his loss." Kaiba waved his arm to the woman above them. "Your freak magic show doesn't amuse me, all you've managed to do is piss me off! Hacking my systems and endangering my competitors? You clowns are lucky to even be here. You don't possess any god cards, you have nothing I want, so mark my words Ishizu." They both stared each other down. "If you're who I end up facing in the semi-finals my top-notch security is going to make sure you don't mess with our duel. I'll crush you before you ever touch Obelisk again."

"You always had a way with words, rich boy…" Joey mumbled.

"Can it, Wheeler! Mokuba, go radio in the medical team. Rolund, call the damn match already!"

"Y-yes Sir." He struggled to his feet and Marik simply chuckled at them evilly. With one hand still stopping the bleeding of his face he raised his other, back in officiator-mode. "Due to Battle City rules and regulations Ishizu Ishtar is the victor of the second match of the finals!"

The stadium groaned and shifted, the cogs started whirring and the stage made its jerky way to the ground.

"Listen up dweebs! My crew will be doing a full damage inspection of my equipment and assessing Odion's medical condition, so the third match won't be able to start for another hour!" Sweeping his coat he stalked past the snickering Marik without giving him so much as a glance. "After which I expect all remaining contenders to be in the main hall and not a minute later!" Strolling to the elevator he left the party of idiots behind him.

* * *

Joey was distracted. As soon as the stage lowered itself his friends ran up to join Ishizu who was crouching beside the unconscious duellist. The blonde teen remained still, staring at the elevator as it closed and Kaiba disappeared from view. He'd been secretly admiring the other guy's level-headedness. It was just like Kaiba to remain his usual cynical and sceptical self, take charge and boss everyone around even in the face of unquestionable magic.

He wasn't embarrassed to admit to himself that he was admiring Kaiba, because on some level he always had. Apart from the fact he was a wealthy snob and a jerk most of the time, he was an incredibly powerful duellist, second in the world only to Yugi. Yugi, who hadn't lost an official match except to Joey less than an hour before.

So maybe Joey was still suffering from a bloated head, still rolling on high spirits, but that wasn't completely to blame for this feeling. Something felt different about Kaiba now. The guy had always voiced his unwavering belief that Joey was a 'deadbeat duellist', he went on and on about it unceasingly ever since Joey lost to him in Duellist Kingdom. Now something about Kaiba felt different because after battling with his own intense shock the acceptance was finally beginning to settle in for the guy. Joey felt like Kaiba was actually seeing him now, like instead of his gaze floating over him during announcements those cold blue eyes were actually resting on him, if only for a moment.

It was acknowledgement. Reaching up absent-mindedly Joey's thumb traced over his busted lip.

Kaiba got on his nerves more than anyone else. Joey absolutely hated him and it was because no one else made him feel like a failure constantly, incessantly, almost as if he was determined to embarrass him at any opportunity. Kaiba was always cool and collected, neatly pressing the right buttons to get Joey pissed off and lose it in front of everyone. Now it had all changed because the one guy Kaiba couldn't beat was defeated by the one guy he always mocked. Now that a duellist with as much admirable skill as Kaiba was admitting to himself that he was wrong, that Joey was a good duellist, all that loathing inside of the blonde teen was beginning to fade. Now he actually felt light when he thought about Kaiba, excited.

For the first time he _hoped_ rich-boy would win a duel because Joey wanted to go against _him_ in the next round, even more than Marik. He'd just evened his score with Yugi, so maybe he could do it with Kaiba as well.

"Joey… I've never seen your eyes sparkle like that." Serenity spoke up from beside him, startling the guy.

"Oh, ah…" He scratched the back of his shaggy hair. "I was just thinking about how pumped I am for the next round of the finals, Serenity." A wide stupid grin covered his face.

"I like it." Her eyes swelled with emotion. "You're so expressive, big brother. It feels like I can know what you're thinking just by looking at your face. I love this, being able to see you now."

Joey's eyes then connected with Mai's purple ones. She was standing half-way up the steps, pausing to look back at them. They connected for what seemed like an intimate moment before the blonde woman stepped aside so the men bearing the stretcher could get Odeon down and hurry off with him to the elevator. His skin looked badly burned along his limbs and the side of his face.

That's when Joey felt Marik step up beside him, his eyes on the heavy bald man as he was carried away. Serenity immediately stifled a gasp and cringed into her brother. Joey felt his muscles tense as he clenched his fists.

"What do you want, Marik?"

"Just to give you a warning, little Joey." Those eyes flickered up to his face. The blonde teen couldn't deny he was spooked. Something was completely different about Marik now. After they found out he'd only been pretending to be kind-hearted Namu he'd still seemed relatively normal. Freakishly disturbed yes, but that seemed so much different to how he was now. His voice was inhumanly deep and that glowing magical eye on his forehead was permanently fixed there, as if staring into Joey's soul. He tried standing his ground but felt his knees shiver. "You now possess Slifer the Sky Dragon, which the Pharaoh won from me. After I win my duel and we enter the next stage of the tournament I'll be winning it back. Better hope someone else takes that card from you, a card which you don't even know how to play. You can't fathom the power of Slifer, and if I'm the one who wins it off you your soul will suffer eternal torture within the shadow realm."

His torso started shaking with his insane laughter. Serenity trembled in fear and it felt like she was about to cry. Joey's throat was clenching up.

"Be gone, you fiend." Ishizu spoke up and they looked to see Yugi and the others at the top of the steps behind the shawled woman. "As long as the Pharaoh and I are around you won't be able to cast any soul into the darkness."

"Not until I unleash a shadow game you mean?" He snickered. "You may have no Egyptian god card sister, but going against you in the semi-finals and finally casting your soul into eternal suffering will be just as satisfying as winning one." With that his head reared back again in laughter and he whipped around, the Millennium Rod clenched close to his body as he stalked to the opposite elevator.

"That guy… is nuts." Mai finally managed to relax. "I get a feeling this tournament has become even more dangerous."

Everyone else silently agreed.

* * *

Yami Marik stalked the halls of the blimp moments later, a big venomous grin stretched across his face and eyes wide with eager bloodlust. He was finally free! Magic coursed through his body, dark energy that clawed just beneath his skin, making his whole self tingle. He craved even more energy. _Yes, let my battle be next. Let me send an innocent into eternal darkness so my soul will grow blacker and my powers intensify_. His tongue slipped out from between his lips and slid across his face hungrily.

From within he could feel his host's frightened soul, shaking the bars of his cage with desperation. The fool was finally contained meaning that true evil could inherit the limitless power of the Pharaoh. Odion should have been killed by the wrath of Ra. Just in case Marik was making his way to the room where he sensed various souls gathered, probably the medical wing. If Odion did wake up – which he shouldn't – the host may have enough power to fight back for control of Marik's body. He needed to devour souls and quickly, the more duellists he feeds to the darkness the stronger his powers would become.

After winning this tournament Marik should have three god cards and have sent three souls to the shadow realm, making him feel confident he'd have the strength to overpower the Pharaoh.

Turning the corner he focussed his attention on the lone soul he'd sensed waiting for him in the corridor. Bakura stood leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, a dark look in his eyes. Marik stopped and aimed his gleefully murderous stare at the thin boy with the long white hair.

"Ah Bakura, you missed quite a match."

"I gathered as much. I ended up missing quite a lot." His brown eyes gave Marik an up-down stare, taking in the changes. "You seem especially… altered, Marik."

"I'm afraid the Marik you made an agreement with is no longer here." He answered in mock-apology.

"So this wasn't a part of your plan all along?"

" _His_ plan." The evil man corrected. "And no, I've been the one using him this whole time for my purposes. I poisoned his mind with hate and greed, expanding the negative emotions of his soul and moulding him into a man of darkness."

"I see. And how does this affect our bargain?"

"Tell you what, if you win an Egyptian god card you can challenge me to a duel and if you beat me my Millennium Rod is yours. Loser goes to the shadow realm. If you lose your first match of the finals come duel me anyway, that way I can still increase my power by sacrificing both your soul and the boy you control to darkness." Lifting his chin Marik started laughing again.

Bakura smirked.

"You know, after seeing the power of those gods I planned to double-cross Marik anyway. Doing an exchange is too docile for my tastes. A winner takes all contest is much better."

"Then I wish you the best of luck in your next duel, Bakura." Marik's eyes gleamed and he continued his way down the hall. _But if you go up against me you're as good as doomed_.

He turned another corner and felt his skin itching with anticipation. After taking the back-seat for so long he wanted to rampage. _Seto Kaiba, you fool. I sense your god card's presence in the room ahead. Begin the next round so I can devour whoever is unlucky enough to face me!_ His Millennium Rod glowed with power and the entry ahead of him slid open.

Seto Kaiba, the Pharaoh and Ishizu stood in a wide room by the first hospital bed where a doctor fiddled over her patient. The three turned to him and he snickered.

"Marik…" Kaiba stated distastefully, earning only another chuckle from the evil man.

"Is this the glum stillness of a group in mourning?"

"Odion isn't dead." Ishizu informed him. "And we won't let you near him. I plan to not leave his side until he's well again."

Marik surveyed the motionless man and observed his weak life force. It was only a flicker of its former self but it continued burning stubbornly nonetheless. He was not dying but he seemed very far from conscious indeed. _Was his will powerful enough to withstand the fury of an Egyptian god? Obstinate fool._

"It's a good thing your lackey lost his first duel, Marik." Kaiba stated. "Otherwise he would've been disqualified for using a fake card, which is a clear violation of _my_ rules!"

"Kaiba that's ridiculous!" The Pharaoh spoke up. "Using fake cards aren't allowed but killing people and using dark magic is?"

"Spare me your hocus pocus nonsense! And that goes for you too, Marik. This new evil magic get-up just makes you look like a ridiculous poser playing dress-up to me. This is a card game tournament, not an acting show!"

"I'm not interested in trying to convince you of anything." Marik dipped his head. _Yes, Seto Kaiba has an ancient connection to my Millennium Item so the more he denies his past the less likely he is to use its power through me_.

"I'm glad to hear that. And Yugi," Kaiba turned his attention back to the smaller teen beside him. "If you losing to Joey isn't just another one of these sick jokes then I'm wiping out that blonde idiot in the next round of duels. His fluke was a disgusting freak of an occurrence, someone has to burst that new-found swelling ego of his. And then when the tournament's over I'm still going to duel you, versing you was one of the reasons I made Battle City in the first place. I refuse to accept _Wheeler_ as the new King of Games."

Yugi's eyes wavered as Kaiba stared him down fiercely. Marik chuckled.

"I'll be the one to duel the Pharaoh and take his puzzle after winning all three god cards. That is, if I'm not strong enough to simply overpower him with my magic by then." He crossed his arms and his chest shook with laughter. "I'm quite impatient to figure out who I'll be duelling. I didn't finally break free of my mental prison just for further _waiting_. So who do I verse? Let's see…" His eyes narrowed. "It's either the spirit of the Millennium Ring, that other woman… or you, Seto Kaiba."

"You'll have to learn to be patient, Marik!" Kaiba snapped, losing control of his temper again. "I have a lot on my plate at the moment and I refuse to waste more time speaking to the likes of you three. The patient is stable, for the moment. Now I need to work on upping my security so no more freak accidents can interfere with these duels. Excuse me." Kaiba went to shove past Marik and he stepped aside, still grinning wickedly.

When he returned his stare to the other two they were both glaring at him.

"I've explained everything to the Pharaoh." Ishizu declared. "I'm joining forces with him and his friends to take you down and rescue my brother."

"Good luck with that." He spoke with a sarcastic wink. Turning away from them he left down the corridor in the opposite direction of Kaiba, leaving them in the wake of his manic laughter.

* * *

 **Who will verse who? I know! But you guys probably don't :P I've received some pretty nice compliments. Supposedly everyone's in character and the duels are entertaining enough to be featured on the anime. I'm glad! Please keep up the feedback. I love reading and re-reading what you say, who you think will verse who and what will happen etc.**


	11. 11

**Thank you my reviewers! Especially Princess Aaliya who went through and reviewed every chapter so far. Who versus who in the next match? Well... you're about to find out!**

* * *

11 - The Final Pairings of the Battle City Finalists

* * *

Mai Valentine leaned against the wall with her arms crossed, deep in thought. Her room door, number four was beside her. The fluorescent bulbs reflected off her duel disk and she eyed her deck. Twenty more minutes until the next competitors would be called. If that freak lightning storm hadn't interrupted Ishizu's duel then Mai could've been playing already. Dipping her head she closed her purple eyes. _This time my Harpie sisters are taking me to the top_.

Yugi was out of the contest and that knucklehead Joey had advanced. Bad hair-do guy was unconscious and that other woman duellist got ahead as well. _I didn't know what I was expecting this tournament to be like, and even still it's managed to surprise me_. Someone rounded the corner and Mai shot a fierce glare from behind her curtain of blonde hair. Is it a challenger?

"Mai!" Serenity waved as she ran over, close behind her Joey paced calmly with his hands in his pockets.

"Serenity?" The blonde woman moved off the wall as the younger girl ran over.

"Good luck in your match Mai! I really hope you battle next!"

"Well that makes two of us." She smiled.

"I'm so excited to see you duel as well! You versed my big brother in Duellist Kingdom and got to the finals in that competition also. You always seem so cool and collected, Mai. Ever since you saved me and Duke from those rare hunters I've kind of admired you." The girl stated honestly.

Mai blinked in embarrassment before her typical smoothness returned to her.

"Wow," she turned away. "I didn't realise your little sister was this cute, Joey. You sure you guys are related?"

"That's funny, Mai." He gave a slight smile in response to her smug grin. Mai could tell he was being quiet, lost in thought about something, which was probably not a good thing for Joey.

"What's up with you, his royal majesty of games? Your little victory party over already?" She tilted her head.

"I'm just… thinking." He lowered his head, that shaggy blonde hair covering his face. Serenity watched him with confusion and Mai waited for him to raise his head. "Mai, I consider you a friend. You have to promise me that you'll be careful in your duel."

"What are you talking about?"

"Marik… and even Bakura… those guys are each carrying mystical items that can take duels to the shadow realm. If you lose a battle against either of them you could be in a lot of trouble." His brown eyes were full of concern and for a moment Mai said nothing.

"You mean, magic right? You and Yugi are both falling for that magic shtick too?"

"It's not a joke, Mai." Joey sounded angry and it made the woman's resolve stiffen.

"Either way it doesn't matter, because I'm not going to lose. Then I'm going to take you down and become the first ever Queen of Games." She pointed at his chest fiercely.

"I just don't think you're taking this as seriously as you should." Joey grumbled. "This is more than just a game now."

"Joey you were the one who told me using magic tricks to help win a duel was dishonest. Now you expect me to believe in this shadow game stuff? Yeah right, I'm out of here." She went to turn away and was astounded when Joey reached out and gripped her arm, keeping her in place.

"I'm just trying to protect you!" He yelled and Mai was shocked for a further few seconds.

"Enough!" She shook him off and Serenity backed away. "I'm strong enough to take care of myself, Joey! I'm going to win my next duel and then it will be us against each other, you'll see. I'll crush you just like I promised, remember?" She recalled meeting Joey again for the first time on the cruise ship to Pegasus's island, not knowing then that he wasn't just like every other chump.

Joey didn't respond, he just kept looking at her intensely. Mai turned away and left them. If there was something she couldn't stand it was people feeling like they needed to take care of her. Half-way down the hall she stopped however and turned her face over her shoulder.

"Joey…" She gave him a thumbs-up sign, holding her arm out straight. "Don't worry about me. Seriously. I'm going to kick butt and then it will be our turn to duel. I… consider you a friend as well." At that a blush spread across her face and she felt her heart hammering. "But I'm still going to crush you!" She rushed. "I'm showing no mercy!"

"Yeah…" Joey overcame his surprise so that big stupid grin could return to his face. "Kick butt out there Mai!"

"We believe in you!" Serenity cupped her mouth to cheer.

Mai nodded and then continued on her way. The redness in her face was kind of embarrassing. Never before could she say that she had proper friends, but being around Yugi and the others again was starting to make her feel like she belonged. It was stupid of her – she felt like a stupid, silly girl. Jumping back to her childhood in a huge empty manor, no friends, absent parents. She'd always gone solo, it'd always been just her and her Harpie Ladies.

But being with others made her feel good. They were good kids. And Joey… he'd clearly come such a long way since their last tournament. He was still his idiot self most of the time, like come on, magic? Really? But he'd matured as well. Reaching up she wrapped a hand around her elbow, above her duel disk. Above all she hated being weak and feeling vulnerable. For some reason that blonde boy's idiot grin in her mind's eye was making her feel just that.

"Mai!" He ran around the corner after her and she whipped around, wide-eyed surprise evident on her features.

Joey leaned in and planted her a kiss. Their soft lips pressed against each other and Mai's head went back as the blonde teen leaned into it. With her arms out and fingers twitching she was completely frozen, eyes wide in stunned shock. The woman twitched, her entire brain going blank.

 _What the HELL?!_

Bursting into action she snagged his face and threw him away from her. Then she leapt forward, smacking her elbow down onto his head. He bent forward with a painful _oomph_.

"Wheeler! You… moron! What the hell was that about?" She was shaking with anger and embarrassment, her entire face now tomato-red.

"Ouch…" He rubbed his skull painfully, but Mai was sure it wasn't the first drub to his head and it probably wouldn't be his last either. "That hurt Mai…"

"W-what… y-you…" She started to feel a little guilty, maybe she had overreacted, but outrage was still at the forefront of her mind. "Why did you do that?!"

"I just…" He lifted his head meekly. "I wanted you to promise me you'd be careful… I… don't really know why I did it. It was… spontaneous…"

"Well don't do it again!" She flustered.

"Am I that bad a kisser?" He kept rubbing his head as he tried at humour. Mai felt herself flinch, the humiliation rooting her to the spot. Her lips were still tingling from his touch, her heart still aflutter. It had in fact not at all been a bad kiss for her, and that made her feel even worse.

"Listen to me you punk! I'm here to play card games not to mess around!" Then she stormed off, carrying a swell of indignity with her.

 _The nerve of that idiot! What was he thinking? Well that's just it, he doesn't think._ Mai's internal emotions felt like a maelstrom of contradicting feelings as she left the teen rejected in her wake. _Dammit_ , she internally moaned. _How on Earth am I supposed to focus on the next round now?_

* * *

Ishizu sat beside Odion quietly, the doctor had left so it was only the two of them. She watched her adopted older brother sadly, the slightest rise and fall of his chest the only indication that he was still alive. Reaching up her fingers traced the Millennium Necklace and it flickered with another ray of gold light. The reason she couldn't see any specifics of the future was now clear to her: it was a result of the other items.

Marik had prevented her from seeing the future when she duelled Odion so it seemed like her upcoming duels would also be against those who possessed a Millennium Item. That must be why she couldn't see who she'd be up against in the next stage of the finals. Glimpses were awarded to her here and there, so she was aware of one thing. The fate of the world was indeed still at stake. Without the Pharaoh fighting on the side of good could they prevail?

Could Marik still be saved?

Lowering her gaze to the still form of Odion she released a sigh. Ishizu was awarded the knowledge of another thing too: It seemed the next duel would be a shadow game, a powerful one at that. Would her brother be responsible for it?

"Oh Odion…" The woman breathed. "Why did you follow our brother along his dark path? To watch over him?"

The man remained still and Ishizu once again remembered their childhood together. Three youngsters bound to the underground tomb, forbidden to see the surface. The Pharaoh's ancient tomb in Egypt, them endlessly waiting for the return of their king. Father's cruel determination for them to follow the traditions of their lineage. They immersed themselves in scriptures and prayer, having very little fun of any kind. It was not a normal childhood but it was theirs, and even below in the darkness they shared some good memories which bonded them together as a family.

 _My poor younger brother… I must save him._

* * *

Yami Bakura stalked the empty corridors toward the main hall, it was just about time for the next match to be declared. Frowning to himself he considered Marik, the latest unstable variable of his plan. Even with an Egyptian god card Marik still held only one Millennium Item while Bakura had two. Pegasus's eye was sitting in the back pocket of his jeans. Surely if they were to verse Bakura would be able to overpower that crazed hooligan.

The keeper of the Millennium Items was still aboard the ship and he was in possession of the key and scales. After winning Marik's rod however Bakura should be capable of finding and overpowering the man. The evil white-haired teen could sense the necklace and puzzle together, meaning Yugi and that woman may have joined forces. It didn't matter. Their pitiful allegiances stood no chance against him after his plan would come to fruition.

All seven items existed on this vessel, meaning Bakura's long-standing goal of returning to his former power might finally be realized.

Ahead he noticed a group of teenagers notice him and come to a stop. _Bakura's old classmates… how amusing_. He continued toward them and his dark eyes flickered between Tristan, Duke and Tea. They stood like a frightened barricade, trying to look intimidating. He could've easily gone straight past them, they had no such power to make him stop but Bakura did anyway.

He smirked "Something the matter you lot?"

"Bastard." Tristan tried riling himself up to overcome his fear. "I got rid of that ring in Duellist Kingdom! How did you get it back?" His eyes rested on the artefact glinting around Bakura's neck.

Their 'old friend' merely chuckled at them.

"Bakura's our friend!" Tea cried out with emotion. "Let him go!"

"Or what?" Their menacing enemy enjoyed the looks of helplessness on the three teens as they stood against him.

"Yugi's gonna stop you!" Tea insisted.

"Yugi? Yugi's not even a Battle City Finalist anymore. So much for your faith in your so-called Pharaoh. I may have failed to deprive him of his puzzle, but as soon as I win another item his soul is as good as gone." With a dark snicker he watched their faces turn wild with fear as his necklace began to glow and the room went dark.

Such a thick presence of evil was tangible in the air that the three crumpled down to their knees pitifully, clutching their bodies in pain. Bakura stepped forward and walked right on past them.

"What… are you doing to us?" Duke gasped.

"Sending you three to the shadow realm would be no difficult task, but I'm late for an important event. I say we post-pone and continue this later." He continued on his way with a satisfied smile, his item glimmered and the spell was released. The three kids behind him were left curled over and panting in fear. _They have no idea what they're up against_.

When he entered the long familiar room Bakura's eyes moved to the huge Blue-Eyes lottery machine atop its pedestal. Two security men stood beside it, the referee had a large strip of medical gauze covering his nose. From a corner of the room Bakura sensed Marik, he turned his head and noticed the other man giving him an evil smile. On the other side of the room stood the blonde woman in purple from before, scowling with determination and also keeping to herself.

"So that would mean I'm also early, aye?" Bakura muttered, nobody else was here. Not even their master of ceremonies.

"Mr Kaiba will be here shortly." Rolund announced, the bandage on his face making his voice nasal. "He's just dealing with some very important safety issues."

Bakura moved away to stand in his own part of the room. After a few more minutes of silent waiting the final contender to be chosen came storming down into the room, his white coat billowing behind him. The younger Kaiba brother was at his heel and the two made their way importantly to the security workers. Not far behind came Yugi, Joey and the other three teens who still looked visibly spooked. _Heh_.

"Alright listen up!" Kaiba turned around to face his audience. "Without further delay I'm moving this right along. This next selection process will determine who the four remaining duellists will verse. We're already behind schedule enough as it is, so the next matches will be occurring right after each other. It's time to get them over with already, and hopefully they won't be as disappointing as the first two duels."

"I'm all for that!" Joey stepped forward angrily. "I can think of one guy I can't wait to take down in the next round!"

"Hmph." Kaiba only dipped his chin.

"Say ah Joey…" Tea stepped around to look at his face in confusion. "Are you wearing lipstick?"

He started rubbing at his face madly and the woman in purple's legs seemed to give in for a moment before she straightened again and faced away. Kaiba narrowed his eyes at the teens before lifting his arm and snapping his fingers.

"Alright!" Mokuba cheered excitedly. "Let's find out who my big brother's going up against!"

"The third match of the Battle City Finals will now be decided by lottery!" The dark-haired worker announced, he raised his arm. "Engage the machine!"

Everyone's eyes were on the big glass sphere as the balls started bouncing around. Four pairs of eyes were more determined and focused on the result than anyone else's. A ball was soon swallowed by the centre Blue-Eyes model and rolled down, bouncing into the slot outside the left dragon's mouth.

"Number 5!" An alarm buzzed and the number lit up on a screen by the wall. "Marik Ishtar!"

Insane laughter filled the room and everyone's eyes went to the evil man rearing his head back as his torso shook. The glowing yellow eye on his forehead seemed to shine malevolently on the rest of them.

"Finally! The time for me to drown another soul in eternal darkness has come!" He cackled again, clutching his rod to his stomach. "Tell me! Who shall be my victim?"

The woman in purple looked uneasy while the tall brunette in white glared (he very clearly wanted that man's god card). The suited guys also looked uncomfortable but their referee regained his composure when the second ball was sucked up. The two unselected balls bounced to a stop in their glass container. The second duellist chosen was…

"Number 6! Ryou Bakura!" The suited man spun around and waved his arm over the crowd of witnesses. Bakura raised his head a fraction. "The next duel will be between Marik and Bakura! Followed directly after by Mr Seto Kaiba and Mai Valentine!"

Bakura chuckled to himself before staring up through his lashes at his opponent "The only soul you'll be sending to the shadow realm is yourself, Marik."

"Then let us go!" He answered back hungrily. "I'll show you how outmatched you are! Prepare to face your doom!"

"Duellists follow me please to the stratos level." Their guide headed off to direct them away, but he seemed none too happy at the thought of having to share an elevator ride with such an evil pair. Bakura couldn't say that he blamed the man.

The two duellists followed him out, Marik was all-the-while grinning with anticipation at his opponent. Bakura only stared back, but then a smirk formed on his lips as well.

* * *

 **Oooo so what do we have here? Two good guys were forced to throw-down and now it's time for two bad guys to go against each other. Will Bakura's two Millennium Items make him strong enough to fend off The Winged Dragon of Ra? And about the ships... who's shipping what? xD**


	12. 12

**Thank you my reviewers. I've just finished working on my duel prep, so you know what that means! The fun can now start. Enter the first shadow game, the stage is set for a battle between two evils. Oh, and no TopRanger237, I won't be including a blue-haired leprechaun wearing shorts in this story.**

* * *

12 - Marik vs Bakura: Part One

* * *

"I can't believe those two psychos are about to throw down."

"I know what you mean, Joey." Yugi frowned to himself in contemplation as the group of teens headed toward the elevator. His footsteps began to slow and they all stopped, trailing further behind the other security worker and the Kaiba brothers.

"Yugi?" Tea looked at his face inquisitively.

"With both of those madmen on the playing field at the same time this match will be incredibly dangerous. Possibly even for the spectators."

"You think?" Serenity huddled up in fear.

"We got to go, Yuug." Joey pressed. "You have one of those items too, right? So you'll be able to make sure nothing too bad happens. Plus _I_ need to learn as much as I can to take down either Marik or Bakura."

"We should think of this as a good thing, right?" Tristan spoke up hopefully. "One less bad guy either way who wins."

"Yeah!" Duke agreed enthusiastically. "Instead of someone innocent getting sent away to that shadow place it's going to be someone evil one way or the other."

"I'm afraid it's worse than that." Yugi mumbled and they all looked at him. He closed his eyes, fists clenched and trembling before he looked up. "In this upcoming duel Bakura's good side is also at stake. He's our friend. At the same time however, what Ishizu and the 'new' Marik have been saying has led me to consider that the original tomb keeper Marik may not be entirely at fault for his actions so far."

"So… what you're saying is…" Joey frowned in thought.

"If this is truly a winner-takes-all of the highest gamble, then one innocent soul might be lost regardless." Yugi scowled in determination. "I have to be present for this duel. Maybe there's some way I can both intervene and keep everyone nearby safe."

"We're right behind you Yugi!" Tristan slapped a hand to his back and gripped his shoulder, almost throwing the smaller boy forward.

"Tristan?"

"I don't care how dangerous it is, we'll be there to back you up any way we can. You too, dude." He offered Joey his knuckles and the blonde guy fist-bumped him.

"Thanks pal."

"This duel may be the most dangerous one we've ever witnessed." Yugi warned. "Two Millennium Items will clash and they're both being controlled by terrible forces." _Not to mention Marik has a god card and Bakura has Pegasus's eye_.

"Well if you say so." Everyone turned to Mai as she was listening in at the edge of the group. Flicking her hair she strolled off toward the voyeur elevator. Yugi could easily detect the scepticism in her voice.

"She has no idea about the danger here, does she?" Tea muttered.

"Not at all…" Joey was still staring after her, concern clouding his features.

"Let's go guys." Serenity urged. "I'm coming too. I know it'll be scary but it can't be any worse than waiting down here alone while knowing so much evil is going on in this blimp!"

* * *

Reaching up Ishizu clutched her necklace in fear. A vision of blinding glory: the sun god dragon. A shroud of concealing darkness: the shadow realm being cast from two items. Something big was going to happen in this next match. Two evils were about to face and the one that emerged would be all the more powerful and corrupted. In this winner-takes-all match the victor would gain possession of three Millennium Items and the most powerful god card. The loser would be sent into eternal darkness.

 _Marik!_ Ishizu felt so much worry for her younger brother that she leapt out of her chair.

Looking down at the unconscious Odion her eyes wavered. She lowered herself back down. _The Pharaoh will do what he can to keep everyone safe, but should he fail… An_ image of Ishizu's kid brother laughing flashed in her mind's eye. _The innocent Marik is gone. He is at least partly responsible for his actions… I must be strong_. Ishizu promised to stand guard over her older brother. She would need to have faith.

"Greetings Ishizu."

"Shadi?" She turned and saw the mysterious man standing by the door. "I'm used to seeing you once only every few years. Why are you back so soon?"

"To warn you." The man's blank face was now serious beneath his white turban. "Whatever evil triumphs from this duel it will likely be you who has to stop it. For they will come after your Millennium Necklace and you don't have a card in your deck that can defeat Ra."

"That may be." She rested her hands in her lap and looked down. "What I really want to know is… will Marik be okay?"

"That can't be determined." The robed man turned away. "However if he is victorious you will want to transport Odion to a hidden room. Marik's evil side will try to get rid of his sworn protector." He wisped away at that, white cloak fluttering out of view.

"Thank you, Shadi…"

* * *

"Duellists please take your marks! Elevate the field!"

A mechanical whirring raised them above their spectators, the night was windy and cold but didn't hinder the smiles of the contenders. Marik's grin was crazed, almost warping his face as he stood with his legs apart on the red arrow. Bakura stood atop the blue arrow with a smirk of his own. Both villains seemed to believe they had the upper hand in this match.

As the crowd of viewers grew both duellists began shuffling their decks. Their field was still damaged-looking, with blackened marks and broken railings. However the holographic units fizzled to life and the stage came to a smooth stop at the correct altitude. Two life point counters beeped up to 4000.

"I've got crew members running constant diagnostics of my holographic simulators and all on-board Kaiba Corp technology for that matter!" Kaiba announced. "Nothing's getting in the way of this duel, and if you don't want to bore me _Marik_ " the crazed man's eyes moved to leer at the taller guy "You'll bring out your fabled god card. The real one this time."

"Don't worry. I fully intend to crush this fool with the wrath of god." He chuckled darkly, eyes back on his prey.

"I have strategies and powers of my own." Bakura crossed his arms and smirked. "You'd be the fool to underestimate me."

"I declare the third match of the Battle City Finals begun!" Rolund waved his arm. "Marik Ishtar takes the first turn!"

The grey-haired guy lifted his gleaming rod and threw his head back in laughter. The gold light intensified and somewhere behind him a patch of darkness tore through space and began creeping misty purple across the area. Soon after Bakura's eyes narrowed and his own ring started glowing from around his neck, matching the intensity of Marik's item. Purple shadows appeared behind him and spread across to envelope the arena as well.

Both shrouds of darkness met at the middle, their seams vanishing and blocking out the starlight. Yugi and his friends bunched up fearfully. A cold chill ran through the spines of the helpless voyeurs and an ominous silence abounded as both players drew their hands. This place just felt creepy and _wrong_.

"As you're aware we're both now playing in the shadow realm." Marik's gaze flickered over his cards menacingly. "As much as I'd like to test out one of my torturous shadow games unfortunately I can't. My opponent also knows how to call upon the darkness so our powers cancel each other out."

"I don't need a special game to beat you Marik. The prize is too great for me to be distracted by the frivolous detail of our match." Bakura smiled.

"Either way the loser forfeits their soul and all our monsters are real!" His opponent screamed. "So!" He slapped a card onto his duel disk. "Let's start already! I summon Makyura the Destructor in attack mode!" A menacingly purple bladed warrior appeared with three sabres emerging from each arm like claws. Its head was black and featureless with only a single eye in the middle. A holographic box appeared displaying 1600. "That ends my turn."

"A single monster, aye?" Bakura muttered as he drew a card, although he was well aware of the creature's ability. "I set a monster in defence position and play one card face-down. That'll do for now."

"Hmph." Marik whipped a card from his deck and then analysed his opponent's field. "Gil Garth, come forth!" A tall robotic fiend covered in tiny spikes and with a large sword appeared on 1800. "Now Makyura destroy this fool's hidden monster! Attack!" The glowing eye on his forehead seemed to intensify as he watched his warrior charge. It scratched apart the floating card and revealed a screaming one-eyed mutant inside a jar before it shattered.

"I'm afraid you just attacked my Morphing Jar." Bakura lifted the card off his disk before sliding it and his hand into the graveyard slot. "We both must throw away our hands and draw five cards."

Marik scowled as he discarded his hand. His fingers quickly dished out five new cards and he relaxed when he saw there was still a trap he could use.

"Using a draw card so early on in the match? Obviously you're planning something, but it's futile. Gil Garth attack him directly!" The tall monster shuddered and then lurched forward.

Gasps of surprise abounded as Bakura's face-down failed to save him. The sword sliced through his torso and the white-haired teen cried out in pain before falling to one knee. With his head lowered his life points reduced all the way to 2200.

Marik didn't seem impressed by his victory, his eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"That attack looks like it really hurt him somehow…" Mokuba spoke up, staring around at the encompassing darkness fearfully. The winds were gone leaving everything eerily silent.

After gathering himself Bakura got back onto his feet and winced out a smile.

"Is that all Marik?"

"Make your move."

"Very well." He drew a card. "Ah, just what I needed. I summon Doomcaliber Knight!" A skeletal horseman wielding a bone shield and lance trotted onto view. Its attack registered as 1900.

"Finally taking this game seriously I see." Marik mocked.

"Oh I've been taking it seriously all along." Bakura raised his arm. "Reveal face-down! Call of the Haunted! Say hello to another powerful monster of mine, Dark Necrofear!" A bald blue fiend cradling a broken doll appeared and hummed eerily. A holographic box displayed 2200. "Now I possess two monsters of greater strength than yours, but I'm afraid it's far worse than that."

"Go on." Marik pressed him emotionlessly.

"You see Marik, summoned from the hand or not Dark Necrofear still requires me to remove three fiend monsters in my graveyard from play. I drew these four fiends, my Morphing Jar and my Call of the Haunted in my first turn. Quite a lucky feat, and now the fun can begin." Bakura swiftly pointed towards his enemy. "Now my Doomcaliber Knight! Destroy Gil Garth!" His horseback warrior reared up with a fearful neigh before charging, its lance speared the opposing monster and it shattered. "Dark Necrofear destroy Makyura the Destroyer!" His alien-like monster bulged its eyes with a zombie hum before firing red rays that incinerated Marik's last monster.

As the smoke cleared Marik was seen shielding his face, his life point counter beeped down to 3300. Swinging his arm away with a murderous cackle he slid a card into his disk slot.

"On the turn Makyura is destroyed I can play trap cards from my hand! So I'll bind your oh-so-powerful monster in my Nightmare Wheel!"

"Not quite." Bakura dipped his head and Doomcaliber Knight whinnied before exploding.

"What?!"

"When my opponent activates an effect, any effect, it's negated and I lose my monster. But look at it this way: now you only have my oh-so-powerful monster to deal with on its lonesome, Marik."

"Tch. Don't get too confident, your souls are mine to devour." He drew a card with a murderous expression and their two Millennium Items glowed in sync at each other. "I have another way to clear your monster from the field. Newdoria!" A gross hunch-backed fiend gurgled at Bakura, 1200 points appearing beside it. "Attack his monster!" It raced towards its target with an unsteady gait but the other monster was ready for it, opening its eyes and frying the squealing mutant in another red beam.

Bakura narrowed his eyes but then widened them in alarm when his monster blew apart.

"Gone." Marik chuckled and his life points decreased to 2300.

"Should've taken greater caution with your life points, Marik." This time Bakura's expression matched his opponent's in bloodthirsty glee. The end of his duel disk slid open in waiting and he slipped in a card, when it closed his machine shimmered in rainbow light and a new kind of darkness began to overtake their battlefield. "You've enabled me to unleash Dark Sanctuary, a field magic card of unrivalled ability. This card is the cornerstone of my deck's strategies Marik, and thanks to you I've managed to assemble all the pieces required to bring it out."

An ominous castle loomed from behind the white-haired player. Gigantic eyeballs and teeth appeared all around them, only intensifying the fearful aura of their dark plane. Marik's eyes wavered back and forth in confusion before he glowered at his enemy.

"No effect can overcome _my_ god monster."

"You place too much faith in one card."

"You underestimate the ancient powers at work in this tournament."

The two villains eyed each other fiercely, Bakura grinning widely as Marik narrowed his eyes in waiting. The spectators shifted their stances, Serenity was huddled right up to her brother while Mokuba tried to stop himself from shaking.

"Hey Seto… something seems strange about the monsters in this duel. They look so real, and the sounds they're making… plus I've had this really bad feeling ever since this duel started and that darkness first appeared… Seto?"

His brother was distracted fiddling with the communication device in his collar. It wasn't working, but there couldn't be any kind of interference. Their security was locked up tight. So… just what in the world was going on right now?

"Just wait Marik, it won't be long before Dark Sanctuary destroys you."

* * *

 **So Bakura's still gone with Dark Sanctuary? Only now it seems that things have gone even more so in his favour, being able to draw it out this early on in the game. Victory is still far out in the horizon and someone with an Egyptian god will not be easy to beat.**


	13. 13

**Only presea221 and Princess Aaliyah reviewed my last chapter, so if my plentiful viewers and followers want me to update faster they will have to leave me some feedback. If you have a ship you like or an idea you want me to consider, go ahead and post something. Otherwise I won't be as fast to write, well that reason and assignments.**

* * *

13 - Marik vs Bakura: Part Two

* * *

"Unleashing a card as powerful as Dark Sanctuary is no easy feat." Bakura explained confidently, a hand moving to rest on his hip. "Frankly I'm astounded I could bring it into play so quickly, although partially I have you to thank for that as well. Just wait Marik, soon I will quite literally spell out your defeat." _As soon as I draw my Destiny Board_ , he narrowed his eyes with an eager smile.

A holographic rectangle appeared beside the white-haired teen, displaying 2200.

"If this is your trump card I'm not impressed." Marik eyed a giant mouth that opened up beside a hovering eyeball. The grey-haired man crossed his arms, his Millennium item now threaded through the belt of his trousers. "The shadow realm is much more terrifying than this, as you'll soon see. Are you going to tell me what this card does?"

Another blue box appeared beside him and beeped, showing off 2300.

"You'll see soon enough." Bakura answered with a chuckle.

"This is horrible!" Serenity called out from the sidelines, quivering in fear. "I thought this place was freaky before!"

"Don't worry Serenity," Tea put a hand on her shoulder. "Yugi won't let their magic hurt us."

"Also it's just a hologram." Mai spoke up, snarky and bored. Her eyes were stuck to the match in front of her though with intense interest.

"Jeez." Joey rolled his eyes away from her and faced Yugi. "Whattaya think Yuug? Who do we want to win?"

"It's more like 'who do we want to lose the least'." Tristan chimed in as Yugi paused thoughtfully.

"Their life points are very close and neither of them has a monster on the field. In fact the only card in play now is Dark Sanctuary. It looks like Bakura's confident with whatever strategy he's just put together, but it's still Marik's turn." The smaller teen then stared across to where Kaiba was standing, still struggling with his inbuilt communication equipment.

"Any attempts at gaining control of this duel will only serve to amuse me!" Marik sneered before studying his hand. _I'll crush this fool in no time, but for now I have no monsters in play. I'll need some traps_. Smirking at the Mirror Force in his hand he slid it and another trap into his duel disk. The cards appeared before him. "I end my turn, show me your great strategy."

"With pleasure, Marik." Bakura drew another fiend monster and added it to his hand.

The evil ghost of dark sanctuary, only visible to Bakura, began soaring across the field and groaning with its mouth agape. _For now the spirit of this dark place has no monster to possess, but that's about to change_. He snickered while Marik's gaze was fixed forward, not aware of the creature that circled above his head and then wisped on by.

"I summon the Portrait's Secret!" A painting appeared and a monster sprouted forth from it. "Then I sacrifice it in order to prolong the magic of Dark Sanctuary." As quickly as the monster appeared it slinked away into non-existence. "That ends my turn Marik."

 _He didn't even leave a card on the field?_ Marik analysed the smug smile on his opponent's face before whipping out a card from his deck.

"Your sanctuary has some obvious flaws." He stated while studying what monster in his hand should next cause Bakura pain.

"How do you mean?"

"It doesn't seem capable of attacking. It needs me to move first, meaning you can only move in defence and counter-attack. And as soon as you run out of monsters in your hand you can't keep it in play either."

"Hmph." Bakura seemed annoyed at that but Marik was still thinking. Then he made his decision.

"Juragedo! Come forth!" A purple demonic torso with horns and claws appeared, along with a display of its attack points: 1700. "Attack him directly!" It vaulted forward and Bakura's eyes began to widen in anticipation. Once halfway across the field it came to a sudden stop and a screaming white face emerged from its back, aiming itself straight for Marik's chest. He was surprised to say the least and shielded himself, grunting as the attack collided and forced him back a step.

2300 reduced to 1450 and Marik growled in frustration. "What is this nonsense?"

"Did I not tell you, Marik?" Bakura replied in mock apology as his life points increased from 2200 to 3050. "When you attack with a monster possessed by the evil spirit of my Dark Sanctuary the attack is cancelled. You also lose life points equal to half of its attack and they become transferred to me." He started laughing like a maniac then and Marik lowered his face.

When he raised it again he was smiling, the veins on his head bulging.

"Is that all your ridiculous card does? How disappointing."

"I've not yet completely set up your defeat. There are more cards for me to play, once I get around to drawing them. I'm in no rush, Dark Sanctuary gives me all the time I need."

"Didn't I already tell you I'd figured out the obvious flaws of your little field spell? Now I know the pros of it, and it's not all that impressive. Especially when you see this." Marik raised his arm while Bakura scowled at him. "Speaking of more cards to play: Activate my Coffin Seller trap card!" One of his face-downs flipped and Bakura clenched his fists.

"How can that help you?"

"So now it's me explaining the effects of cards." Marik dipped his head with a smirk. "Coffin Seller will inflict 300 points of damage to you every time one of your monsters goes to the graveyard. Seeing as your own card forces you to sacrifice a monster each turn you'll be drained by your own effect as well. Ha!"

"Tch. Are you done now Marik?" Bakura snapped, not impressed. When his opponent only smiled he plucked another card from his deck. _My evil ghost will drain his life points before his silly trap takes mine, and all of this will change once I draw my Destiny Board_. "I summon Sangan!" A three-eyed hairy beast-fiend appeared. "Then I'll send him to the graveyard."

Marik flashed his teeth as Bakura's life points decreased to 2750.

Bakura extracted his deck. "Once Sangan goes to the graveyard I can add another monster with 1500 or less attack to my hand. Guess I'm not going to run out of monsters as soon as you thought. And now," he slid a card into his disk slot "I set one card face-down and end my turn."

"Hmph." The grey-haired man glanced to his new card and then his smile widened, making him look even more bug-eyed and insane. "Haha! I play another continuous card! Dark Room of Nightmare! Now every time you take damage from a card effect you take an additional 300!"

"No!"

"Yes. So every turn you keep Dark Sanctuary in play and sacrifice a monster you now lose 600 life points. And now I'll summon Drillago!" A machine on 1600 with drills sprouting out from all over its body appeared in attack mode. Marik deliberated for just a moment. "Attack now!"

"I reveal my trap card: Dark Spirit of the Silent! Care to guess what it does?"

"I know what it does." Marik spoke through his teeth.

"Then you must also know my life points have gone up by another 850 while yours go down as well." As the card flipped up a yellow spirit zapped out and zig-zagged toward the machine, knocking it back before fizzling out. The hovering purple fiend then surged forward and once again the angry ghost emerged and made its howling charge, slamming into Marik and forcing him backwards. "Your cards are good Marik, but all the trouble it takes to get Dark Sanctuary into play clearly isn't for nothing. Now you only have 600 life points left, another reckless attack like that and you're finished."

Chuckling as his life points increased to 3600 Bakura started his turn. "I summon another Sangan and then send him to the graveyard. That's my turn done." As his monster hissed and shattered the life point counter beside him decreased to 3000.

Marik grimaced, he drew and examined the two cards left in his hand.

"I set one card face-down and next I'll sacrifice Juragedo!" As he said it his monster fizzled out in a smoky red haze.

"How sure are you my evil ghost won't just transfer to the next monster you play?"

"I'm not playing another monster, by sacrificing Juragedo I can increase the attack of my other monster by 1000 until the end of the turn." As Marik spoke the undulating red mist weaved into Drillago and its power increased. "This attack will make your life points even lower than mine, forcing you to discard your field spell next turn. Plus you have no face-down cards this time. Drillago!" The deranged madman roared "Attack!"

The drills all over his monster began whirring and it launched itself toward Bakura, the audience gasping.

"You fool Marik…" Bakura threw his head back and his laughter echoed about the void. "Each turn my ghost can possess a new monster, and it just so happens that the one I chose wasn't Juragedo… it was your machine!" Drillago stopped and then the roaring white ghost wormed forth, spearing itself toward Marik and carrying 1300 points of damage with it. "I've won this duel!"

The ghost blasted apart in front of Marik and he remained comfortably where he stood, his life point counter remaining fixed on 600.

"What is this?" Bakura looked dumbfounded.

"My Quick-Play magic card." Marik answered him without emotion. "Since my face-down is a magic card I can activate it in the turn I set it if its triggered, unlike with a trap card. Spell of Pain transfers life point damage I take from an effect to you."

"You've saved yourself this time." The ring-bearing teen snarled in annoyance. "And it's a moot point anyway. I gain the same life points you would've lost so they cancel each other out."

"You're forgetting the effect of my Dark Room of Nightmare." Marik raised an eyebrow and gave a sly smile. Bakura's frustration grew as his life points decreased to 2700.

"I'm still leagues ahead of you! There's no chance I'll lose this duel!"

"Then by all means continue." Marik prompted. "It's your turn."

Bakura drew his next card with anger. Thanks to his two Sangans he had six cards in his hand while his opponent only had one. Plenty of monsters to sacrifice with but still no Destiny Board. Marik was bound to attack again at some point and then Bakura would gain more life points. If Marik didn't lose by making another mistake it would at least keep Bakura safe from those two continuous cards for a while.

"I summon White Magical Hat!" A spellcaster in a cape appeared. "Then I sacrifice him to maintain the power of Dark Sanctuary." As his monster faded away Bakura watched his life points with worry as they decreased to 2100.

"Is that all?"

"I set two cards face-down and then end my turn."

"I draw." Marik's insane grin returned. "And now I cast Card of Demise, allowing me to draw five cards under the condition that I discard all cards in my hand after five turns pass!" Sliding the spell into his graveyard with another dark chuckle he started drawing his new hand and his eyes immediately focused on one of the cards.

 _I've just drawn my Egyptian god card! The Winged Dragon of Ra!_

He studied the ancient yellow card, feeling the intense power of its magical energy before his wicked gaze flickered back up to his opponent. _It won't be long now… I'll show you the power of a true trump card._ "Now I'll play Tribute Burial. I'll remove Gil Garth from my graveyard to out of play, and let's say… your Doomcaliber Knight. This allows me to summon a monster that requires two tribute summons, and that monster is… Helpoemer!"

A twisted blue fiend attached to a slab of some kind and with twisted mouths across its body appeared. It writhed in place, almost as if in pain. A counter appeared and revealed its attack to be only 2000. Marik snickered before sliding another card into his duel disk. "And my next move is… Dark Hole! I'll send all monsters in play to the graveyard!"

"What?" Bakura raised his arm as a black hole expanded on the centre of their field, its pull made Bakura unsteady. He watched as the event horizon field expanded, soon spaghettifying Marik's Drillago and Helpoemer. The black core then rapidly grew before fading out, leaving behind a field with no monsters. "You sacrificed both your creatures?"

"Your turn, Bakura." Marik was still smiling as he tilted his neck.

 _He must not want me to force any of his monsters to attack_ , Bakura assumed and drew another card from his deck.

"I summon my Headless Knight and send him to the graveyard!" The ghostly warrior barely had time to appear before he sank away. Bakura moved to put the card in his graveyard but then paused. "What the hell?"

"After being destroyed while on the field Helpoemer then resides in your graveyard." Marik explained as Bakura's life points decreased to 1500.

He studied the foreign card that was sitting in his discard pile. At that moment Bakura felt his duel disk tremble and then he gasped as a ghostly hand emerged from his graveyard, weaving around and snagging a card from his hand.

"What!? Marik, explain this!" The semi-transparent claw fluttered back, taking Bakura's Lady of Faith monster with it.

"Easy." The spiky-haired menace began. "You can only keep yourself safe with Dark Sanctuary by sacrificing monsters every turn, so I destroyed my Helpoemer. Now it'll discard one card from your hand each turn, that means you'll run out of monsters in no time. And don't forget about my Coffin Seller and Dark Room of Nightmare, they're still on the field as well." And just as he said it Bakura's life points decreased again to only 900.

 _Yes, that fool will run out of monsters and finally I'll be rid of his pesky field spell. Then all I have to do is wait until I can bring out my Egyptian god and this game will be mine._

"Marik…" Bakura's trump card wasn't helping him now, as much as he hated to admit it. As soon as he'd revealed Dark Sanctuary Marik had quickly found a way to exploit its weakness, making him lose a substantial amount of life points every time he sacrificed a monster. And now there was Helpoemer randomly discarding cards from Bakura's hand each turn as well. Both of their life points were under a thousand, Marik sat seemingly relaxed on 600 while Bakura gritted his teeth on 900.

There was another problem as well – Bakura only had one other monster left in his hand.

It all seemed to depend on who would draw the next game-changer. Marik may be determined to send him to the shadow realm, but Bakura was determined to take that rod.

* * *

 **With no good character to cheer for its almost become evil overload! Who will out-evil the other? The answer is to come next chapter where you will see an Egyptian god card, magical power and a whole lot of crazy.**


	14. 14

**Thanks to presea221, Princess Aaliyah, MildlyObsessed and TopRanger237 for reviewing. Here we have the conclusion to the first shadow game of my Fanfic! I hope you all like it! Which of the two evils shall emerge victorious?**

* * *

14 - Marik vs Bakura: Part Three

* * *

With a malevolent glee Marik drew his next card. The glowing eye on his forehead intensified as he studied the unease in Bakura's expression. Dark Sanctuary was still on the field – for now. The giant eyeballs swivelled around at the players against their backdrop of red, occasionally the open mouths would hiss and sneer at them. Marik had no monsters in play now that he'd sent Helpoemer and Drillago to the graveyard, but he still had his Mirror Force face-down on the field. Bakura also had no monsters but two cards to protect him.

The evil ghost was sure to possess Marik's next monster as soon as he played it, but he didn't intend to attack. All he needed to do now was summon enough monsters to bring out Ra.

"I summon Dark Jeroid!" A grotesque blue fiend with an elongated body and multiply hands crawled forth on 1200. Marik's monster had the ability to weaken an opponent's by 800 points but seeing as there was nothing else against it the effect was wasted. With only two other cards in his hand though Marik didn't have much choice with what to play. "Your move Bakura. I wonder, will you sacrifice even more of your life points just to keep you safe?"

"I…" The white-haired villain lowered his head in frustration after checking his next draw. "I don't summon a monster this turn, and thus…"

"Dark Sanctuary is finally discarded." Marik finished for him and raised his chin as the silhouette castle behind his opponent faded from view. The red background withdrew like a curtain, the eyes and mouths slithering away and revealing the regular purple-darkness of the shadow realm they were in. "So… let's see what card Helpoemer will discard next."

Bakura's eyes widened and he tensed as the ghost arm weaselled out and then twisted itself before snatching the card on the left.

"No! Not that card!" He grimaced as his Earl of Demise was taken to the graveyard. The numbers on his duel disk flickered down to only 300 remaining life points.

"Looks like you lost another monster." Marik observed. "Seeing as you didn't play it and thus keep it safe from Helpoemer's ability I suppose its level was too high to summon without a sacrifice. Pity. If you draw one more high-level card and it gets discarded my Coffin Seller will take the last of your life points. With only two cards left in your hand it won't be long before you're left with absolutely nothing!" Marik cackled. "I guess it's up to the luck of the draw, aye Bakura?"

"Shut up and make your move."

"With pleasure!" He drew a card. "Hmm. It'll do. I summon Holding Arms!" His chain monster appeared and clacked its shackles hungrily. "Normally this card would equip itself to one of your monsters and prevent it from attacking or using its effect. But oh well, seeing as you only have 300 life points I'd rather have him attacking."

Bakura narrowed his eyes at the glowing gold tool with only 500 attack. Marik watched him with an evil smile for a moment. "I've forced you to discard Dark Sanctuary and you have no monsters to protect you." Leaning forward he bellowed "Prepare to be consumed by the darkness you fool! Dark Jeroid attack!" His blue fiend reared up and then charged. The second mouth below its torso opened and a glowing ball of energy fired out, launching toward Bakura.

"Activate Waboku!" One of his trap cards flipped up as he raised his fist. The attack collided with it and then fizzled away. "I receive no attack damage this turn."

"Hm." Marik was secretly pleased. _I can finish him with my god after all_. There was more than one way he could win this game however, a card in his graveyard could beat Bakura if all else failed.

Bakura drew from his deck. _This card will buy me some time_.

"What you don't understand Marik is that my field spell was only one part of my deck's strategy. Since you only have 600 life points left I won't need it to defeat you."

"Are you telling me you still think you're going to win this duel?" Marik sneered in disbelief.

"I set one card face-down and end my turn."

"Not so fast! First Helpoemer must discard a card from your hand."

Bakura grit his teeth as the spectral hand wisped out and plucked another card from out of his grip. _Dammit!_ It was one of the letters for his destiny board, but without the board itself it was useless. Even so Bakura couldn't use it to beat Marik now it was in his graveyard. Regardless of how this match ends up going it still seemed unlikely it would last another five turns, which was the amount of time he needed for the Destiny Board strategy.

"I summon Viser Des!" Marik threw down a card and a fiendish vice-like tool on 500 attack appeared and sparked with red electricity. "Look at that, another card that would equip to one of your monsters if you had any. But that's not all… I activate Bait Doll." He flipped over a spell card in his hand so Bakura could see. "This card will force one of your face-down trap cards to activate, if the timing is incorrect it'll be destroyed. In other words: if you were planning to stop me with it after I attacked you lose it now!"

Marik's doll appeared on the field, a straw voodoo-looking figure and it lunged toward Bakura. "Target the card on the left!"

"Grrr." Bakura scowled as the doll pounced on his face-down before shattering. It flipped up revealing Call of the Earthbound. His trap was destroyed soon after the doll.

"With that card you could've forced my attacking monster to target another one of mine, costing me the duel." Marik acknowledged before snickering. He observed the last card in front of the standing Bakura. If he was correct in his theory that card would stop Marik's next attack, if it was able to end his battle phase like Waboku then he would summon Ra next turn and nothing would stop an attack from such an awesome creature. "Holding Arms attack Bakura!"

As the gold clinking band zoomed forward the white-haired menace took a stance in preparation and splayed his hand.

"Sorry Marik, but you destroyed the wrong trap! Zoma the Spirit!" A skeletal purple dragon appeared on the field and hissed. "I'm sure you're aware of trap monsters. My spirit must be special summoned in defence mode, and with only 500 points he's an easy target for your Dark Jeroid."

Marik's handcuff-like monster halted and then zoomed back to where it started.

"Tch. I do know trap monsters. I also know that if Zoma is destroyed in battle its opponent takes battle damage equal to the attack of the monster that beat it." With frustration Marik looked down at the only card left in his hand, his Egyptian god. He'd need a strategy to beat Bakura's card, it would depend on what he drew next turn. His Mirror Force would keep him safe until then. "Make your last move Bakura."

He drew a card from his deck and looked at it. _This won't be my last move Marik, you can count on that._

"I pay The Dark Door! Thanks to this continuous magic card you can only attack once per turn." He slid the card in and it appeared holographically on the field. At that moment Marik burst into insane laughter, causing the audience to all stare at him uncomfortably.

"Helpoemer discard the last card from his hand!" He roared and Bakura's final card was snatched and dragged into his graveyard, his eyebrows twitched in frustration. "And now since you can do nothing more allow me to put an end to this duel! I sacrifice Dark Jeroid, Holding Arms and Viser Des to summon The Winged Dragon of Ra!" As he cried out each monster's name he withdrew their card and they fizzled out.

An enormous pillar of light exploded from behind Marik, ruffling his spiky hair and cape as he threw his head back and laughed. The aircraft trembled and wind blasted apart, causing Bakura to grunt and shield his eyes. He looked up in shock and awe as the lights faded to reveal a glowing gold sphere akin to the sun.

"Is that… Marik's god monster?" Bakura whispered. "Oh no…"

"My god is Ra, the divine Egyptian dragon of the sun! Now prepare to face your doom!" Marik raised his arms and an intense power swept through the area making people cry out. Bakura felt a weight descend upon the arena and his knees trembled. Marik raised his head and his voice boomed aloud "Great beast of the sky, please hear my cry! Transform thyself from orb of light, and grant me victory in this fight! Then fill the deserts with your glow, and cast your rage upon my foe! Unlock your powers from deep within, so together we may win! Here in this shadow game as I call your name…" He spread his arms wide as golden light rained down upon the field "WINGED DRAGON OF RA!"

A terrifying roar like tearing metal was unleashed at the end of Marik's chant and the golden glow faded to reveal a mighty dragon unlocking itself from the orb. Once free it hovered above Marik, larger than the field itself. Bakura stared on in shock, a sweat bead running down his forehead. _He managed to summon it before I could defeat him…_

Marik lowered his head, the strain on his body evident from the growing veins and his laboured breathing. He was still smiling however. The gold dragon wasn't serpentine in shape like Slifer and its brilliant wings were larger too. It unleashed another roar and an attack box appeared revealing 2200 points.

 _It's only as strong as my Dark Necrofear was_ , Bakura observed. _Could it be his monster gained the attack of the ones sacrificed to summon it?_ Either way he'd seen a god card once before and was sure it possessed a multitude of various abilities.

"Normally I'd use one of Ra's powers to pay 1000 life points and then attack and destroy any monster on the field, seeing as I can't do that now I'll have to wait. Your move."

Bakura's little dragon spirit was pitiful in comparison, it was closer in size to Bakura than that legendary creature. It released a tiny roar and Bakura moved a shaky hand to draw his next card but then he hesitated.

Marik's grin became even more malicious "What's wrong? Realised there's no way you can win?"

"No… you may have your advantage out in the game now Marik… but I still have mine!" Reaching back Bakura's hand dove into the bottom pocket of his jeans instead. He pulled it back out and revealed the shining Millennium Eye. The small gold sphere gleamed in his outstretched hand and Marik blinked, his hand automatically moving to his own holstered item.

"What do you think you're going to do with that?"

"Why I'm going to defeat you, of course." Bakura smiled wickedly. Marik withdrew his rod from his belt and raised it up, its eye glowed with gold light to match the one on his forehead.

"Why don't you try it?"

"As you wish."

The audience watched on in suspense. What was Bakura going to do? Was this a bluff? Did he really plan to use magic to cheat out a victory? The eye glowed to match Bakura's ring and Marik's rod, with a crazed smile he then… drove it into his right eye socket.

Howling in pain Bakura lurched back as light sizzled out like a firecracker. Yugi and his friends cried out. Did he implant it just like Pegasus had? When the light ebbed away Bakura was barely standing, his spine curved forward and arms limp. Streams of smoke drifted up off his body and Marik narrowed his eyes from beneath his giant dragon, he still held the rod out in readiness. Bakura raised his head and Marik stepped back with a grimace.

Bakura's laughs were high-pitched as he reared up so everyone could see him. Just like Pegasus had his right eye was now a Millennium Item, the crushed organ was bleeding down his face in red streams and trickling down his chin, dripping onto his clothes and the ground.

"Did he just implant the eye somehow?" Tristan gaped.

"His face is bleeding!" Mokuba gasped. "What did that psycho just do?"

"Oh no…" Yugi murmured.

"Doesn't this mean he can read minds now just like Pegasus could?" Tea covered her mouth in worry.

 _Yes_ , Bakura thought wickedly and focused his gaze on his hesitant opponent. _Now by using two items like this I can overpower Marik and see into his mind_. As the blackened vision of his right eye began to return Bakura could see the trepidation on Marik's expression with great clarity. The vision of his new eye was so detailed it almost felt like he was 'seeing' the thoughts and concerns as they whirred around inside his brain. Bakura peered deeper and then suddenly he was looking into Marik's soul. He could see his tortured past as a tomb keeper, his growing resentment towards the pharaoh and the world, he saw the darkness grow and take on a life of its own. Bakura could also see the frightened and helpless boy within the monster.

"Ryou Bakura…" He turned to look at their concerned referee. "If you desire to continue this duel you must make a move now."

"Quiet you fool!" Bakura barked and the suited man slinked back. He drew a card from his deck.

"Your desperate move isn't going to save you!" Marik screeched in fury, still wielding his rod like a weapon. "Next turn I'll destroy your Zoma the Spirit and my Winged Dragon of Ra will finish you off!"

"Not likely…" Bakura glanced at his card and turned it around. "I cast Rain of Mercy. We both gain 1000 life points." Their two life counters beeped upwards.

"But why…" Marik growled through his teeth in angry confusion. "If I draw a monster now I can use Ra's ability and wipe you out?" He drew his next card with care and then a wide smile spread across his features. "I-!"

"You just drew Mystical Space Typhoon." Bakura finished for him and his bleeding gold eye twinkled.

"How did you know that?!"

"Your spell would allow you to destroy my trap-monster and then attack me for the win… usually." Bakura snickered. "But because you played Card of Demise five turns ago you must now send that card straight to the graveyard."

"You…" He was too enraged to finish that sentence. Calming himself down he slid the card into his discard pile and Bakura stared up at the shining dragon as it let out another mighty roar. The white-haired teen drew his next card and smirked for just a second, his face going flat when he eyed Marik.

"I know what you're thinking, Marik. And yes. I really am inside your head now. Not one memory, emotion, thought or fact is safe from this eye. Not since I possess two Millennium Items. And now! I activate Serial Spell! This card can mimic the effect of one magic card in your graveyard, I choose Card of Demise! Hopefully it will serve me better than it did you." Bakura drew his new hand while Marik remained twitching in fury. A moment of surveying the cards. "It appears this duel is over after all."

"What?!"

"I play Tremendous Fire. This card will cause both of us to now lose life points." He raised the card high above his head and it ignited, twisting around and suddenly a maelstrom of fire twisted overhead. The heat was so intense that even the audience was recoiling.

"That settles it…" Kaiba spoke up, aghast. "That's no hologram…"

The vicious inferno descended and Marik screamed out in pain, Bakura's cries mixed in with his opponent's as the blaze also moved to cover him. It was less intense on his side of the field however, evident by the fact his life points only dropped by 500. Dark Room of Nightmare then activated and decreased Bakura's life points by another 300. Faces in the fire snarled at them demonically as they were consumed.

The fire cleared around Bakura and revealed him kneeling on the ground, embers fluttered about and small fires were still burning in different places nearby. When the cursed flames on Marik's side of the field finally died out he was seen hunched over on all fours, his life point counter reducing back to 600. Bakura watched him while panting and then his smile returned, his life points were on 500.

"Well that was fun, wouldn't you say Marik?" He choked out but the other duellist still hadn't recovered from his moment of agony. "You must be a strong duellist to go through that and still have the power to control Ra, but like I said before: it's all over now." Weakly Bakura raised his arm and glanced at his cards. Marik raised his head slowly.

"Helpoemer… is still in your… graveyard." His inhumanly deep voice struggled. "If he… destroys a monster you're… still going to… lose."

"Didn't I just say it's over?" Bakura got to one knee and then slipped a card into his duel disk. "Activate Monster Reborn! The card I'm bringing back is in your graveyard!"

"It can't… be…"

"I choose Bowganian!" The one-eyed spherical machine brandishing a cross-bow appeared and aimed it for where Marik was hunched over.

"You never…" Marik tried to regain his composure "…even saw me play that card!"

"You're right. It was discarded at the very start of our duel by my Morphing Jar. But since I can see into your mind now I know all your strategies as soon as you think of them. I also know that your Bowganian monster automatically inflicts 600 points of damage to your opponent on each of your standby phases just for being on the field. And since it's an effect you can't stop it with your Mirror Force either."

"Wait!" Marik struggled to get up but his strength failed him, he collapsed painfully onto his stomach.

"So sorry you didn't get to enjoy a longer stay after finally freeing yourself, Marik's dark side." As Bakura said it Bowganian readied its weapon.

At the edge of the arena a gold light parted the darkness and Ishizu appeared, looking terrified. _You're too late_ , Bakura thought and his monster fired. The arrow shot through the air and pierced Marik straight in the chest when he tried to drag himself away, he leaned backwards and keeled over, the weapon lodged inside him and his face frozen in terror.

Marik's life point counter beeped down to zero.

"Noooo!" Ishizu cried. Bakura could sense her and Yugi using their items in sync, but to no avail. Bakura had beaten a holder of a Millennium Item in a shadow game, as such he was free to do with Marik's soul what he wished. The darkness of the area converged on the defeated opponent and he thrashed as a vortex of blackness gathered around him like a sinkhole.

"Marik," Bakura got up on his feet. "As the victor of this shadow game I take your Winged Dragon of Ra, your Millennium Rod and banish you and your dark side into the abyss of shadows for the rest of eternity." The mighty gold dragon unleashed another chilling roar before simmering out in a dazzling solar luminescence. "You thought you could send _me_ to the shadow realm? Don't you know who I am? I am Zorc, creator of the shadow realm!" Bakura laughed madly as Marik's fearful eye fixed on him before sinking away into nothingness.

The night sky returned.

As the darkness retreated to Marik's unconscious body it became a puddle of black sludge surrounding him before melting away.

"That… really happened..." Mai breathed in shock.

"Impossible…" Kaiba was frozen.

"My brother…" Ishizu felt tears welling up in the corner of her eyes. Now standing Bakura turned around to face the onlookers, his new golden eye still bleeding.

"Problem?"

* * *

 **Do we have a problem? So who saw that coming? Hopefully that new cover picture didn't tip anyone off... Ah well. We see here the dawn of a new arc antagonist. Bakura has always been one of my favourite characters, I mean I guess so has Marik but this here Fanfic aint big enough for two evil badasses.**


	15. 15

**Hazar! Thanks for the feedback rockof90, Skylinemaster, Ark and MildlyObssessed! Hmmm I do have a plan for what's supposed to happen after the first round of the semi-finals but maybe I should revise it. The whole point was to keep people on their toes with surprises right? Hmmm suppose I have a lot of time to prepare before Kaiba island and the semi-finals though.**

* * *

15 - The Truth Behind Shadow Games?

* * *

Bakura stared down at the crowd of people, a smirk raising and showing off his teeth. The oozing blood from his right eye stained the white. Everyone who watched on was speechless, at that moment Bakura knew that he looked even worse than Marik ever had. His power radiated out threateningly and fear settled in the hearts of the spectators. He could see it with his new Millennium Eye. Just as the arena began its descent he paced comfortably to where his unconscious opponent lay.

"Ryou Bakura is the victor of the third duel." Their referee raised his arm and announced.

Bakura ignored him and stopped to where the Millennium Rod lay beside the unconscious youth. Leaning down he picked it off the ground with a smirk. _Three down, only four to go_.

"Thanks… Marik." He smiled at the unconscious body. With a jolt the mechanism came to a stop and someone came charging over.

"Get away from my brother you monster!" Ishizu cried as she knelt down beside him. "Marik! No!" She heaved him up and hugged him close to her body. "No no no no! I was supposed to save you, I was supposed to protect you! Now Odeon might be gone, and I've lost you too." She started weeping and Bakura stared on with amusement.

"Bakura." Yugi's commanding tone made him look away. There he stood with his Puzzle glowing. "Before this tournament is over we'll stop you and reclaim the souls you've banished away."

While chuckling Bakura raised the rod to him and Yugi froze. Ishizu looked up with teary eyes as she clutched Marik to her body.

"How do you plan on doing that? With only one item between each of you I could open a rift in the shadow realm right this instant, force you both to duel me and take your items at the end of it, without having to jump through the hoops of this silly tournament." Bakura smiled, satisfied with the evident fear in the other boy. _You won't be able to escape my powers this time_.

"Bakura…" Kaiba stepped up beside Yugi fearlessly. "You have a lot of explaining to do. My technology was being monitored for interference the whole time. How did you possibly jam my signals with that illusion until now?"

"The answers have been in front of you the entire time." Bakura looked away smugly. "It's not our fault if you refuse to listen."

"The only thing in front of me is a psychopath." The tall man said and his face clenched up like Bakura was something unsightly. "If that eye-gouging routine wasn't a trick then I recommend you go immediately to the med bay so someone can treat that wound."

"How courteous of you Kaiba. Or perhaps you want to keep me around long enough so you can try winning my god card?"

"Listen you freak! You and I will be having a talk. I'm going to find out exactly what stunt you just pulled to mess up my computers."

With a scowl Bakura pointed the rod straight at Kaiba whose expression changed – most likely he'd sensed the magical energies directed at him. Yugi's puzzle brightened its glow, ready to defend the other teen.

"Hmph." Bakura lowered the rod again and moved to walk around them. "I don't have to do anything. And you can't kick me out so long as I have the card you want. This one…" Crouching down Bakura picked up the card that'd fluttered off Marik's duel disk after all the commotion. As soon as his finger touched it he sensed the ancient magic reacting to his own power. _Yes… this card will ensure my victory_. Smoothly he slid The Winged Dragon of Ra into the deck in his duel disk and walked off. "I'd like some recuperation time before challenging either of you. So another time then…"

When he stepped off the podium the others were giving him frightened and hateful stares.

"How awful…" Tea's blue eyes were wavering with emotion. "You control Bakura against his will and then you injure him like that!"

"Hm." He paused for a moment just to smile at them before continuing off.

It wouldn't be long now. Soon Bakura would control the world's greatest power.

* * *

The fear Kaiba hadn't been able to hide was still visible on his face. That fire from before… it must've been pyrotechnics. But how? And that black dome that blacked out communications… He didn't know how any of it was possible. These clowns must have some incredible technology of their own… and… Kaiba's own staff must be getting paid out from under him. Turning to Yugi's knowing expression he tried getting a better hold of himself and calming down.

When Bakura aimed that weird rod at him, he'd felt something. It wasn't a threatening sensation… it was almost like that gold pig-sticker had been calling out to him. Like he was connected with it somehow. That was impossible however… That was crazy! Kaiba couldn't believe he was entertaining such insane thoughts.

"Clear the area!" He yelled, suddenly whipping around. "It's time for my duel!"

"Have you no heart, Kaiba?!" Yugi demanded furiously, then looked pointedly at the woman in tears.

"The only reason both Yugi and Marik lost their matches is because clearly they weren't good enough duellists to wield god cards!" He waved his arm. "But I will be the greatest duellist in the world! Obelisk isn't going to fail _me_!"

"Marik is the second person seriously injured from your tournament!" Yugi insisted. "You must at least give us time to get him some medical attention! Don't you also want to check your equipment and find out what just happened?"

Kaiba glared at Yugi. He couldn't stand even looking at the other guy anymore. Once he'd been Kaiba's ultimate rival, once Kaiba had even respected him. Apart from all the nonsense about friendship, destiny and the heart of the cards… Kaiba had acknowledged Yugi for his skill and nothing else. But Yugi had failed. He'd lost, and to _Wheeler_. The fact that Kaiba had secretly held another duellist in high regard for so long, only to discover he was no king of games… well it felt like a defeat for Kaiba as well.

A personal defeat that'd had him gradually unravelling since. Not so different to the crisis he'd gone through after being bested by Yugi in the first place.

"You have fifteen minutes." Kaiba couldn't even stand being near Yugi anymore. He was supposed to defeat Yugi and reclaim his title atop the duelling tower. How had it gone this way instead? He turned away angrily to march off, feeling sick to his stomach.

"Kaiba!"

"Want to make it ten?" He stopped to glower over his shoulder and Yugi grit his teeth in frustration.

Kaiba kept on going and Mokuba looked concerned, staring up at him and trying to read the expression on his face. As the tall guy went past he noticed the blonde idiot's eyes on him. Kaiba stared down Joey briefly on his way by before continuing on. An anger flared up inside him that he could barely contain. After knocking Wheeler back on his ass that king of games title would return to the one who deserved it.

"Nothing's going according to plan, is it Seto?" Mokuba asked as soon as the elevator doors closed. The older Kaiba brother ducked his head before replying.

"No…"

"What are we going to do?"

"I'll tell you what we're going to do. We're going to replay that duel with our technology and find out what exactly happened." A pause.

"Seto… I still think about what Yugi and his friends said about Pegasus… how he took our souls-"

"Magic isn't real, Mokuba!" He retorted sternly, firing up. "How many times have I told you that? It's just elaborate tricks and crazy people falling for their own bullshit."

They said nothing for a while, staring at each other until the elevator came to a stop. When the doors opened Kaiba immediately strolled through. This was the pilot deck, only personnel were allowed on this level. When the metal doors at the end of the walkway slid open the workers were already bustling about in urgency, their white lab coats fluttering about as they flew over computers and data.

"Mr Kaiba!" A harried man called out. "We're running a full diagnostics scan now!"

"Show me a simulated play-by-play of the duel this instant!" He ordered.

The holographic machinery in the centre of the room fizzled out, unable to process anything. A satellite image of the huge black sphere from the outside was all that was visible.

"We just can't show the duel!" A typing man anxiously cried. "It doesn't make any sense!"

"Move out of the way!" Kaiba barked as he hopped down the steps and stole the keyboard, the worker jumped out of the seat while Kaiba's long fingers flew over the buttons.

"What are you doing, Seto?" Mokuba came to a stop beside him.

"They may have messed with our computers," He murmured as various images flittered across the screen. "But they were still using duel disks. All duel disks are Kaiba Corb technology, filled with trackers and information storing that we can hack into."

"You're hacking into Bakura and Marik's duel disks?" Mokuba leaned in and then suddenly the magnified hologram in the centre of the room changed.

The workers all gasped as a play-by-play finally became visible. There was Marik's monster appearing followed by Bakura's face-down card.

"Alright!" Kaiba stood up straight. "Get to work now!"

"Yes Sir!" There was another scramble as the room full of workers buzzed about.

"I hope they'll be able to find out the secret of how these duels keep getting interrupted…" Mokuba mumbled.

Kaiba clenched his fists as everyone scampered around like hyperactive rodents. A flash memory of that Millennium Rod being pointed at him. A feeling… Kaiba had a feeling that they would not be able to find any conclusive evidence that their systems had been hacked at all. He'd always been more inclined to trust his head over his gut, it was Kaiba's head that got them out of their shitty life and in control of one of the greatest corporations in the world. And yet…

Kaiba's eyes narrowed. _Magic couldn't be real… could it?_

* * *

Mai stepped forward and offered a hand to Ishizu. She looked so distraught that it seemed she could barely stand. The blonde woman helped steady Ishizu by weaving her arm around her neck for support. No one had particularly liked Marik, that was clear, but for Ishizu's sake Tristan had offered to carry Marik down on his back seeing as no one wanted to wait for those stretcher guys to get back up here.

"Thank you…" Ishizu said faintly.

"Don't worry about it." Mai gave a wink to try and cheer her up. "Your brother didn't get struck by lightning or anything, I bet he'll be just fine."

"Marik…" She looked away with a sad knowingness about her. "I fear the only way my brother might return is if the one you call Bakura is defeated in a duel."

"And maybe the one to do that will be you." Mai said kindly as she helped Ishizu down off the platform. "Or maybe it'll be Joey, meaning us ladies will be duking it out in the next round."

Ishizu looked at Mai in surprise before smiling gently.

"Again… thank you."

"Don't worry about it. We're the only two girls in this tournament now, we got to stick together. Unless I'm the one you end up versing, then you should be worried."

"You never stop with the tough talk, do ya Mai?" Joey turned around from in front of them as they headed to the elevator.

"Can it Wheeler!" She blushed, the memory of that kiss immediately flowing back to her. "I hope I get to go up against you in the next round!"

"So you can be the first Queen of Games, right?"

"So I can wipe that dumb smirk off your face!" She yelled heatedly.

"I hope you two verse as well…" Ishizu lowered her face and reached up to dab her eyes. When she raised her head she looked determined, the impassive and gentle woman now looked downright scary. "I want to be the one to beat _him_ once and for all."

"Well good luck… Ishizu…" Joey responded a little awkwardly.

"We don't need luck when us ladies have skill, right Ishizu?" Mai gave her a thumbs up.

"Good luck to you too, Mai. You're duelling next, and against Kaiba. You might need all the luck you can get." His attractive face was shining, his attractive smile full of relief. Joey was happy that Mai hadn't ended up going against either of those two psychos, but honestly, before she'd seen all that freaky magic stuff she would've preferred one of them to ex-champion, tournament manager Seto Kaiba.

Oh well. Mai's intention had been to win. To do so she would have to verse the best sooner or later.

Mai was going to show everyone she could compete in the big leagues just like all the guys here. She gave Joey a playful wink.

"You're the one who relies on luck-cards, remember hun? Don't worry, you saw barely a fraction of what my new deck is capable of when I crushed Jean-Claude Magnum."

Instead of crumbling against her flirtation he fired right back, barely a blush on his cheeks.

"I hope so. Then we'll really see who crushes who."

His ruffian voice sent tingles of excitement running through her skin.

* * *

 **So Mai vs Kaiba next? Who will win? From watching the anime we can see how Kaiba is better, plus he has a god card. But since this is a Fanfic anything could happen! Mwahaha! So long as I keep it within the bounds of realism so it all continues to flow like canon. What do you guys think will happen?**


	16. 16

**Wow, I updated! It sure has been a while. Who do I need to thank... AryoTindomiel, Skylinemaster, presea221 and Princess Aaliyah for reviewing my last chapter! And now to start that long-awaited duel!**

* * *

16 - Mai vs Kaiba: Part One

* * *

Purple heeled boots led Mai Valentine out the elevator, she strutted over to the duel platform atop the blimp determinedly. Behind her Yugi and his friends followed.

"Good luck, Mai." Serenity called.

"Don't need it." She flipped her long hair back and climbed up, swinging under a burnt rail. Kaiba was facing away but had his gaze on her from where he stood on the blue arrow. She came to a stop and matched his cold stare.

"Elevate the field!" The referee raised his arm and the mechanism whirred, lifting them up into the beating cold winds.

"You got this bro!" Mokuba cheered.

"No way!" Joey shouted. "Beat the pants off rich-boy, Mai!"

At the sound of his voice Kaiba's lip twisted into a grimace. Mai could see that something was different about Kaiba. His eyes were bloated, his hair was a bit messy and he hadn't bothered to fix it. He was off… but somehow he looked even more dangerous.

"So tell me, _Mai Valentine_ ," Kaiba spoke arrogantly "Why is it your name sounds so familiar to me?"

"I was a finalist in Duellist Kingdom." she answered.

"I've never seen you play, but I tend to only remember winners. You should feel honoured, not only do you get to verse a world champion but you get the privilege of being the first finalist who'll be crushed by Obelisk the Tormentor."

"Seto Kaiba…" Mai scoffed, immune to his trash-talk. "Come to think of it I've seen you duel. Once. You went up against Maximillian Pegasus and lost. It was quite heart-wrenching, you wouldn't stop crying about getting your brother back. He seems fine now, so congrats on that."

"You sure are obnoxious." Kaiba seethed.

"If you don't like me now, wait until I take your fabled god card, hun."

They stared each other down coldly, their audience watched on with anticipation.

"Wow, talk about animosity." Duke murmured.

"They don't get along at all." Tristan stated.

"Well duh," Joey crossed his arms. "Those two have the biggest egos of everyone on this blimp. And yeah, I'm including Marik and Bakura."

"I heard that Joey!" Mai yelled.

"Forget Wheeler, your opponent is me." Kaiba walked forward. "Let's shuffle each other's decks so we can begin already."

Mai hmphed and approached Kaiba, meeting him in the centre. The moustached Rolund watched them trade decks and shuffle.

"Don't antagonize her, Joey." Yugi said from below. "Mai needs our support now."

"I don't need anything, Yugi." Mai slipped her deck back into her duel disk "Cause now I believe in myself as a duellist. Do you remember what I said to you after our last duel?" Her purple eyes were intense, Yugi nodded from below. Turning away from Kaiba, the blonde woman went back to her starting position.

Kaiba watched her go with a slight smile before turning as well.

"I must say I'm a little relieved." Kaiba spoke over his shoulder "I get to duel someone who doesn't rely on magic tricks or believe they're in this competition to _save the world_." He turned and his duel disk activated "Too bad we won't be duelling for very long."

Mai took a ready stance and her duel disk connected, locking into place.

"The fourth duel of the Battle City Finals will now begin!" Rolund declared. "To my left: Mr Seto Kaiba, and to my right: Mai Valentine. This duel will reveal the fourth contender who will advance to the semi-finals!"

"And that'll be me!" Kaiba declared.

"Dream on, hun!" Mai yelled back.

"Begin the duel!" At that their life point counters climbed to 4000 each.

* * *

"You should go first," Kaiba said smugly. "You'll certainly need the handicap."

"You'll regret that." They both drew their hands. "I've had a lot of practice crushing overly-confident men, you don't scare me sweetie."

"I won't be so sweet when I destroy you with Obelisk!"

"First you have to get through this: I summon Amazoness Swordswoman!" Mai extracted a card with manicured nails and slapped it into place. A tan and muscled woman appeared, wearing minimal amounts of leather and bone. She brandished her blade with a battle-cry, an attack box revealing 1500. "Then I set one card face-down and that's me."

"Tch." Kaiba whipped out the top card of his deck. "I summon Battle Ox!" A monstrous brown humanoid with red-yellow armour raised its axe overhead. "Destroy her pathetic monster!" It charged and slashed, Mai's warrior guarded but the attack broke through – her Amazon shrieked and exploded.

"Thanks to her effect you take the damage instead of me!"

"Who cares." Kaiba slid a card into his disk slot, his life points going down to 3800. "I put one card face-down and end."

Mai drew then surveyed Kaiba's monster as it blew air from its nostrils. It had 1700 attack. _Nothing that strong right now, oh well_.

"I summon Amazoness Fighter in attack mode!" A burlier woman in green rags appeared, raising her fists. "That ends my turn."

"That monster's just as weak as your last one." Kaiba chastised, drawing his card. "I play the magic card Cost Down! Now I can sacrifice Battle Ox in order to summon the Blue-Eyes White Dragon!" He lifted his arm heroically and the audience gasped. The shining dragon materialised from the light with its trademark roar. "Destroy her other puny monster with white lightning!"

A blinding flash lit up the stage and Mai shielded herself from the 3000-point attack. When she lowered her arms the Amazon was gone. Kaiba's grin wavered.

"I don't receive point damage from a battle involving that Amazon either."

"You can't rely on the effects of those Amazon cards to bail you out for the whole duel." He pointed a finger at her "I'm Seto Kaiba, former world champion! To me you're just another nobody!" His dragon beat its wings dramatically as it settled in front of him.

"Hmph." Mai smirked and began her turn. "Then you can tell me what it's like to be beaten by a _nobody_. I summon Amazoness Blowpiper!" Her next warrior appeared, playing a flute made of bone. Blue-Eye's attack decreased to 2500. "Next I play Amazoness Spellcaster!" She waved her arm and the spell appeared on the field, depicting a shaman woman conducting floating symbols. "This will swap the attack points of our monsters!"

Kaiba gritted his teeth as his dragon's attack went down to only 800.

Mai smiled in satisfaction "Attack my Blowpiper!" The Amazon was shrouded in purple magic as she leapt across the field.

"Activate trap: Ring of Destruction!" Kaiba's face-down flipped up, a black collar sporting red grenades began choking Mai's monster. "This will destroy your Amazon and inflict 2500 points of damage to both of us! Since my Blue-Eyes will be free to attack you directly with full power next turn it's a price I'm willing to pay!"

"Not one I'm willing to pay." Mai snapped. "Activate: Harpie's Feather Duster." Her spell appeared and a tornado breezed across the field, leaving pink feathers in its wake. Kaiba's trap shattered and when the wind cleared Mai's Blowpiper continued her assault. She whacked the dragon with her flute and its head reared back with a screech, blowing apart and reducing Kaiba's life points to 2100.

"Hell yeah!"

"Go Mai!"

Kaiba looked dumbstruck before his face became a sneer.

"I told you before, hun. I don't care if you were the former world champion, I'm going to mop the floor with you and win this competition! You've lost almost half your life points while I'm still sitting pretty on 4000."

"She beat Blue-Eyes…" Mokuba was disbelieving.

"I guess you're more than just a pretty face." Kaiba acknowledged. "But your stroke of luck ends now…" He looked at the card he just drew. "I summon Blade Knight! Listen here, lady. I lose to no duellist. Yugi was the one exception, but clearly he's since lost his touch. It's up to me to reclaim my title!"

A sword-wielding knight appeared on 1600.

"Attack her piper!" Kaiba ordered and his monster flew forward with a lethal slash. Mai's life points went down to 3200. "I set one card face-down. Not sitting pretty anymore."

"Big deal!" She drew and her eyes shined. _Oh yeah!_ "Come on out, Cyber Harpie Lady! Now you're in trouble, big boy!" The familiar cry of her Harpie echoed as the winged woman burst forth. It swished its long red hair back, purple armour gleaming and its attack strength 1800. "Rip his Blade Knight to shreds!"

"You just triggered Command Silencer!" A totem pole appeared in front of Kaiba, emitting a high-pitched screech from stereo-circles that had both Mai and her monster covering their ears. The audience also winced and tried to block out the noise.

"What the hell was that?" Mai demanded once the sound had faded.

"Your new monster may be more impressive than your others, but it can't attack if it can't hear you declare one!" The totem pole faded away. "My turn then… I summon Lord of Dragons in defence mode!" A cloaked man in dragon-style armour knelt on its card. "Then I put Blade Knight on the defensive and set another card face-down." Kaiba narrowed his eyes as he surveyed the field, _I need to make sure she attacks the right monster… otherwise I'll spring my trap_.

"I'm getting tired of those face-down cards of yours." Mai drew.

"Well let me give you a hint, Mai. When you go up against the best, you go up against the best cards. Power and strategy is what determines this game."

"I couldn't agree more, but you forgot one other thing: a duellist must trust herself. You seem confident in the power of your cards… but are you confident in your own skill to use them?"

"Of course I am!" Kaiba shouted.

"Then let's see how you handle this! I also put one card face-down! And now I'll attack…" Mai hesitated. _His Lord of Dragons keeps dragon monsters from being wiped out by card effects… that could be troublesome if he gets another Blue-Eyes on the field… but won't his Blade Knight be stronger than my Harpie once he's run out of cards in his hand?_ Kaiba was only holding a single card. _I've made up my mind!_ "Cyber Harpie attack his Blade Knight!"

Kaiba watched his monster get clawed apart by a swipe from the bird-woman's claw. He drew a card and froze, then he started cackling loudly. His chest was shaking - it sounded manic, even for Kaiba.

"You destroyed the wrong monster! You don't have a card in your deck as powerful as my Blue-Eyes, meanwhile I have three _and_ an Egyptian God!" Kaiba slid a card into his disk. "This is the difference between a champion and a runner-up! Go: Flute of Summoning Dragon!"

A gold dragon-shaped flute appeared in the clutches of Kaiba's Lord of Dragons. It sounded off like a horn and Kaiba played the card he'd been holding.

"Come forth my second Blue-Eyes White Dragon!" Too soon Mai was reunited with Kaiba's 3000-point dragon. It spread its wings and roared. "Your Harpie can't beat this!"

"I summon Harpie's Pet Dragon!" Mai announced, throwing her hair back as the huge pink dragon appeared, a gold collar connected to a chain that was held by her Harpie. Its attack went from 2000 to 2300. "Your flute lets both of us special summon dragons, if I'm not mistaken."

"Your dragon's worthless! Blue-Eyes, attack her inferior dragon with white lightning!"

"My traps aren't worthless! And you just activated a good one. My Mirror Wall!"

"You can't destroy my dragons with an effect!" Kaiba was startled. "Not as long as Lord of Dragons is on the field!"

"It's far worse than that. Watch!"

A barrier of reflective glass crystalized upward. Kaiba could see his shocked expression as the beam of white light dispersed and Blue-Eyes screeched, rainbow cracks riddling through its body. He gasped, watched his monster's power decrease to only 1500.

"What did you do?" Kaiba demanded, losing his cool.

"It was what _you_ did, Kaiba." The mirror retracted. "You sprung my Mirror Wall, now your dragon's attack points are halved. I'm guessing it's my turn now, seeing as you have no more cards in your hand?" Mai drew and Kaiba eyed the holographic trap as it remained visible.

"So that card's continuous as well?!"

"Now he's catching on." Mai replied while smiling at the two cards in her hand. "You can't attack me anymore, not until you've dealt with my trap."

 _Calm down_ , Kaiba thought to himself. _She's better than I anticipated, so what? It's not over yet. There's not a deck in the world that compares to mine. All I need to do is pull Obelisk, then this duel will be finished_.

"I play Elegant Egotist, now my Cyber Harpie becomes three!" The woman smirked as her Harpie soared upward, glowing brightly before splitting into three copies. Her additional monsters drifted down – the new pair of bird-women separately sported an orange fringe and blue spikes. All three had 1800 points and Harpie's Pet Dragon powered up to 2900. It roared with ferocity.

"Okay, I admit it." Kaiba scowled. "You're strong. I should've been paying more attention to your duels."

"That's sweet. Now I almost feel bad for crushing you." Mai winked.

"I will not be defeated in my own tournament! Mark my words!"

"Harpie's Pet Dragon, it's payback time! Go for his Blue-Eyes!" The dragon reared back with its long neck before releasing a stream of fire. "And if you remember Kaiba, your Lord of Dragons won't let _my_ dragon be destroyed by a trap either!"

"Attack Guidance Armour!" Kaiba's trap activated and a stream of light burst from the card "Attach yourself to Harpie Lady one!" The red-haired Harpie squirmed against the metal chest-plate that fastened to it. Two red eyes switched on and the fire curved around, redirected to the startled Harpie.

"Oh no!" Mai gasped. _He'd set that card before to protect his Lord of Dragons_.

There was an explosion of flames and Mai's life points beeped down to 2100.

"Now we're tied." Kaiba pointed out.

"Not for long!" Mai swished her hand. "Harpie Lady two attack Blue-Eyes!" The orange-haired monster dived with a screech, clawing through Kaiba's second Blue-Eyes and dropping his life points to 1800. "Harpie Lady three destroy Lord of Dragons!" The blue-haired monster flapped its wings, creating a burst of speed that sent it ripping straight through Kaiba's last defence. Mai smirked as the monster staggered before howling, it shattered and Kaiba was left without any defence.

"How can this be?" He exclaimed to himself. "I must be hallucinating. She can't possibly be about to win this duel."

"My dragon still has 2600 attack points and you have no cards in your hand… or on the field." Mai put a hand on her hip and raised her duel disk. "Not only do I have three tough monsters but my Mirror Wall's protecting me. Better hope you draw a good card, otherwise I'm ending this duel on my next turn and stripping you of your Egyptian God card!"

"No!" Kaiba growled, he was shaking in fury.

"Big brother…" Mokuba sounded concerned. "Don't give up! You can still beat her!"

"You rule, Mai!" Joey cheered. "Teach that no good Kaiba a lesson!"

"She's amazing…" Tea said "Even better than she was at Duellist Kingdom…"

"You're my hero, Mai!" Serenity cupped her mouth to cheer.

The blonde woman looked over and gave them a thumbs up.

 _I won't lose to her!_ Kaiba thought angrily. _I won't be laughed at by Yugi's geek squad losers! This duel's still on!_ He reached for his deck, placed his fingers on the top card and at the ready.

* * *

 **So I sure do hope I've still got readers after such a ridiculously long hiatus. I finally managed to map out the duel and write this first part today. I should be able to drag it out for another two chapters. Who do you think is going to win?**


	17. 17

**I'm very happy that presea221 and Skylinemaster are still reading this story! Yay! For a moment there I was worried I'd need to wait for new reviewers.**

* * *

17 - Mai vs Kaiba: Part Two

* * *

"Check it out!" Tristan said "Mai's totally got Kaiba on the ropes!"

"I must admit she's doing better than I expected." Duke agreed.

"Yeah, Kaiba's a world champion." Tea spoke up. "The only person who's beat him in a fair fight is Yugi."

"Heh. I knew Mai could take him." Joey turned away while scratching his nose.

"Didn't Kaiba beat you in Duellist Kingdom?" Tristan brought up and made Joey go red with embarrassment "I'd get off that high horse if I were you, pal."

Serenity blinked at her brother with confusion.

"Who cares about Duellist Kingdom!?" The blonde barked. "Clearly I've gotten stronger, and so has Mai!"

Atop the arena the duellists stared each other down while ignoring the gossip below. Kaiba glared across the field with his hand on his deck. Mai stood confidently behind her Harpie's Pet Dragon and two Harpie Ladies. From the sidelines Mokuba was biting his fingers with fear.

"Go on, Kaiba." Mai's blonde hair was trailing back from the night breeze. "Draw!"

 _The fate of this duel rests on what I draw_ , Kaiba thought. _That never used to be a problem for Yugi. Every duel he plays he manages to get exactly what he needs… except for when he versed Wheeler. I won't get to duel Yugi… but I_ will _reclaim my title_. Looking over to his younger brother Kaiba grinned and Mokuba smiled in amazement.

"Just draw already!" Mai yelled.

"As you wish!" Kaiba flicked out a card and smirked, he then slipped it into his disk "Monster Reborn will bring back one of my Blue-Eyes White Dragons!" There was a loud roar as his dragon reappeared, stretching its wings to their full-length. Mai stepped back in shock. Kaiba smirked "I won't attack because of your trap, but in this case the best defence is a good offence!"

He clenched his fist and Mai drew her next card.

"I summon Amazoness Chain Master in defence mode!" A woman wearing blue tiger-striped rags appeared on one knee holding a gold chain. "Your move."

 _This will help_ , Kaiba thought as he drew his next card.

"I set one card face-down and end."

Mai drew her Unfriendly Amazon and frowned. _I have to find a way to get his dragon off the field. I've done it twice already so I can do it a third time. My main problem is…_ Mai recalled the past two duels involving god cards. _For some reason they're immune to effects, so if he gets enough monsters on the field he can sacrifice and summon Obelisk. I'm sure his god card has enough power to shatter my mirror wall and take the last of my life points!_

"I end my turn!"

"I set this in defence mode!" A face-down monster appeared on the field. "And since I have no other cards that ends my turn."

"A monster face-down?" Mai narrowed her eyes, _it must have a flip effect!_

"What's wrong, Mai? Your monsters can attack, unlike mine. And you still have cards in your hand, unlike me. Perhaps you don't believe in yourself as much as you thought."

"Can it, Kaiba!"

"Who could blame you. You're going up against a pro."

"A pro, huh? We'll find out just how much chance you have left of winning after I play this! Go Unfriendly Amazon!" Her next monster had braided hair, covered in bandages and armour. She wielded a sword, attack points 2000.

"Woah guys," Yugi spoke up from the sidelines "Now Mai has five monsters on the field!"

"Unfriendly Amazon is powerful," Mai continued "but the drawback is I must sacrifice another monster during each of my stand-by phases. I choose Amazoness Chain Master!" Mai pointed dramatically "And when my Chain Master goes to the graveyard I can pull any monster from your deck that I choose! I pick Obelisk the Tormentor!"

Mai's chain warrior stood up and swung her weapon, the chain flew through the air and connected to Kaiba's duel disk. He grit his teeth, a bead of sweat running down his face. Mai's Chain Master fizzled out and she started walking between her monsters, stepping closer to Kaiba with her hand outstretched. He clenched his fists and went to meet her half-way again.

They stood close, glaring at each other despite their foot difference in height. Kaiba pulled out his deck and started flicking through his cards. He extracted Obelisk and held it out for her. Mai plucked it with a _hmph_ , turning back to her starting point. Kaiba shuffled his cards before slamming them back into place, he stormed back as well.

"Mark my words: Obelisk will return to me! All you've done is bring him out for me! Now I don't need to go to the trouble of doing it myself." He whipped around and raised his duel disk.

"Dream on! I have four monsters in play, remember? So on my next turn all I need to do is sacrifice three and I'll be the one to summon Obelisk!"

"That's not going to happen!" Kaiba growled.

"Oh yeah? Unfriendly Amazon attack his face-down monster!" The card was sliced apart and the audience gasped at the appearance of a familiar clown.

"Saggi the Dark Clown?" Joey gasped. "Oh no! Does that mean…?"

"Right you are, dweeb!" Kaiba began cackling as his face-down flipped upward. "Mai just activated my Crush Card Virus!"

"Crush Card what?" Mai noticed Saggi disintegrate, then she saw the cloud of microscopic organisms flowing to each of her monsters, weaving around and into her deck as well. Her eyes widened. Mai's four monsters began glitching in place. "What have you done, Kaiba?!"

"It's what _you've_ done, Mai." He mocked, a crazy grin on his face. "My virus is going to wipe out all monsters in your hand, on the field and in your deck that have attack strength over 1500!"

"No way!" All four of her monsters exploded, her expression became pained.

"So I guess you won't be summoning Obelisk next turn after all. Go on and throw out your cards! I'll wait." Kaiba crossed his arms.

"Go Seto!" Mokuba cheered.

"With all Mai's strong monsters in the graveyard she probably won't be able to summon Obelisk and win the duel." Duke muttered.

"Don't forget that Mai's Harpie Ladies are her best cards!" Joey insisted. "And they won't be wiped out by Kaiba's Crush Card cause their attack points aren't high enough."

"That may be so…" Yugi replied "but all Kaiba has to do is find a way to eliminate Mai's Mirror Wall before she gets three monsters on the field to sacrifice."

"Wow…" Tea murmured. "Kaiba's monsters all get weakened by Mai's Mirror Wall, but Mai only has weak monsters cause of Kaiba's Crush Card Virus… it could be anyone's game."

Kaiba watched patiently, his life point counter routinely buzzing to reveal 1800 life points. Mai finished, slipping a portion of her deck into the graveyard, her life points beeped at 2100.

"I take it you're done?" Kaiba spoke from behind his Blue-Eyes. "Good." He drew. "I summon Vorse Raider in attack mode!" His grotesque warrior appeared wielding its double-bladed staff, attack 1900. "Your move, if you can do anything."

 _Okay…_ Mai drew and stared at her hand. She had four cards, including Obelisk, but no monster she could summon.

"…I end my turn."

"Ha!" Kaiba whipped out another card. _Soul Exchange… this might come in handy later if I'm to summon Obelisk…_ "Go!"

"You may have wiped out my stronger monsters, Kaiba. But I have plenty more Amazons in my deck that can still help me! And also… this!" Mai played a monster "I summon Harpie Lady in defence mode!" Her signature monster appeared with a screech, crossing its arms and wings. It lacked the armour of Cyber Harpie, only possessing 1400 defence.

"Your bird-brained monster's about to get plucked!" Kaiba whipped out a card. "I summon X-Head Cannon!" A blue mechanical torso appeared with twin cannons on its shoulders, floating in place with 1800 attack. _Now I have three monsters, all that's left for me to do is reclaim Obelisk and her Mirror Wall will be shattered!_

"I summon Amazoness Archer in defence mode!" Mai's grey-haired woman appeared with her bow at the ready. _Yes! Another Amazon! Kaiba's probably forgot all about the trap card I set on my first turn. Now, even if he gets through my Mirror Wall I can activate Amazon Archers and weaken all his monsters, allowing mine to win! I'll need something else to take out Blue-Eyes though…_

"You won't get to summon a third monster before I defeat you!" Kaiba barked as he began his turn.

"You're a real charmer, did anybody ever tell you that?" Mai spoke sarcastically.

 _Yes!_ Kaiba's eyes widened. He grinned at Mai who began to look uneasy.

"I set one card face-down and end my turn."

 _I got a bad feeling from that look…_ Mai put her hand on her deck. _I need to draw a monster and end this now, before Kaiba finds a way to get through my trap._ She drew. _Alright!_

"I summon another Harpie Lady in defence mode!" Mai waved her arm as her monster appeared with its inhuman squawk. "You know what that means, right hun? Even after you destroyed my strong monsters I still managed to amass enough weak ones to sacrifice for Obelisk next turn! You better give up now or suffer defeat at the hands of your very own god card!"

"Mai's gonna win!" Joey gasped.

"Not likely…" Yugi muttered.

"What do you mean?" His friends all stared at him.

"I mean… the pressure I was under after summoning Slifer in my duel… I believe only a certain few can control the power of those cards. It's not likely Mai has a connection to ancient Egypt, unlike me and Kaiba. If she tries to summon Obelisk the god may overwhelm her. She could become unconscious and lose the duel from knock-out."

"Really?" Joey exclaimed.

"Joey…" Yugi turned to face him. "As good a duellist as you are… I believe the same thing would happen to you if you tried to summon Slifer the Sky Dragon."

"No way…" The blonde was disbelieving, staring back over to the match.

"You won't be summoning Obelisk next turn." Kaiba announced. "Reveal face-down! Magical Trick Mirror!" A mechanism covered in circular mirrors and wearing a witch's hat appeared. "This trap takes the ability of a spell in my opponent's graveyard. Any one I choose." He closed his eyes and chuckled before pointing across the field. "And I choose Harpie's Feather Duster! Wipe out all of Mai's spell and trap cards!"

The familiar tornado burst out of Kaiba's mechanism, arcing over and blasting away the traps on Mai's side of the field. She watched her Mirror Wall and face-down shatter, pink feathers settling down as the wind cleared.

Kaiba laughed madly "And now, finally! Vorse Raider attack her Harpie Lady!" His monster sprang forward with a growl, slicing through a shrieking bird-woman. "X-Head Cannon blast away her other Harpie!" His machine took aim and fired, the second Harpie disappearing in a flash of smoke. "Blue-Eyes White Dragon destroy her Amazoness Archer with white lightning!" A piercing roar and then flood of white light – Mai's final monster was gone.

"No way…"

"The tides have turned. Now you're the one without any cards to help you on the field at all!" Kaiba smirked "But I've got this: Card of Demise!" He slipped it into his duel disk. "Now I'll surely draw the card I need…" He counted with his fingers then added the new cards to his hand. Mai was judging his expression, his cold blue eyes flickered to hers and she didn't like what she saw. Kaiba slid another card into his duel disk "I activate the magic card Exchange!"

"Damn…"

"Didn't I tell you I'd be the one to crush you with Obelisk?" The tall brunette started walking across the field and Mai hesitated before following suit.

With reluctance she presented the blue god card and he snatched it back without even bothering to look at her hand. He fanned out his cards with that victorious smirk and Mai scanned them. There was only one monster in his hand and Mai had none, she swiped it and they both faced away from each other.

Marching equal paces as if they were in an Old West showdown.

When they turned around Kaiba was the very definition of smug. Mai was clearly worried but still determined, _I got so close… I can't give up now. There must be something I can do_. She studied the cards in her hand.

"And now!" Kaiba raised his arm with a loud cry. "It's time! My monsters have finished attacking, it's now my main phase two and just in case you weren't paying attention – I still haven't summoned a monster yet!"

Mai grit her teeth anxiously and the onlookers gasped.

Kaiba took a stance "I sacrifice Vorse Raider! X-Head Cannon! Blue-Eyes White Dragon!" Each of his monsters ignited, coalescing into a ball of bright light. There was a loud hum raising in pitch, going supersonic. "Come forth the almighty, Obelisk the Tormentor!"

The light turned blue and Kaiba's face strained as the power flowed through him, blue electricity shooting outwards. A heavy presence swept across the field and Mai experienced a new kind of dread as a humongous shadow loomed up, growing larger until the god was visible.

Obelisk spread its wings, a deep roar reverberating through the air. Its skeletal face was terrifying. Wind buffeted everyone while blue embers descended like snowfall.

"Incredible…" Mai murmured. "4000 attack points…" For a second her knees shook but she forced herself to stay strong.

"As you can see, Mai, I'm a man of my word!" Kaiba shouted, veins visible from the effort of summoning the god. "Now the torment can begin!" His laugh mingled with the monster's rumbling breath.

* * *

 **It seemed like Mai was going to win, but now Kaiba has summoned his Egyptian God! This duel concludes next chapter!**


	18. 18

**Okay the first round of the finals ends here! Thanks presea221, Skylinemaster and Princess Aaliyah. Hopefully I'll get some more reviewers, this story does get decent views and some more feedback will motivate me to write the upcoming chapters faster so we can get to the next part of Battle City.**

* * *

18 - Mai vs Kaiba: Part Three

* * *

Obelisk the Tormentor loomed over the flying blimp, larger than the field itself. Kaiba was still laughing to himself, his life points beeping to reveal 1800. Mai was scowling, standing at the ready, her life points still at 2100. It didn't matter that she'd managed to maintain over half of her points, Mai knew that one attack from Obelisk would wipe her out no matter how many life points she'd managed to keep. Lowering his head Kaiba quietened down.

"Congratulations, Mai. I didn't know you before this tournament, because frankly I didn't care. However… I'll remember you after this…" his expression became serious "You got closer to beating me than anyone else, apart from Yugi that is. As the soon-to-be world champion of Duel Monsters, I acknowledge your strength."

"Flattery will get you nowhere, hun!" Mai yelled.

"Why would I need to flatter you? I'm about to win this duel!"

"No…"

"Yugi and Marik both failed to control their Egyptian God cards because they weren't true duellists! After beating you I'll take down that flunkie Wheeler easy, and then my title will be mine again!" He raised his hand ambitiously.

"This isn't good…" Yugi murmured.

"I'll say…" Joey added "That god card looks unbeatable."

"Hey Yuug," Tristan asked "What do you think the chance is that Mai will be able to beat him before he can use it? You know, like Joey and Bakura did."

"The chances are slim… I'm more worried about Mai taking a direct attack from Obelisk. It could cause serious injury…"

"Oh no!" Both Tea and Serenity cupped their mouths as they watched on in fear.

Kaiba smirked at the blonde woman as she tensed "Your move."

Mai gathered her resolve. _Here's nothing…_ she drew. _No dice. And no monster. This should keep me safe for a turn, at least._

"I summon Z-Metal Tank in defence mode!" A yellow tank appeared, the monster Mai had taken after Kaiba used his Exchange card. _Its defence is weak, but it's all I got_. "I set one card face-down."

"Heh. The end is now… before I attack with Obelisk and win this duel I'll give you a chance to surrender."

"What?"

"There's no need for you to get hurt. So just give up!" Kaiba pointed dramatically.

"N-never!" Mai remembered Duellist Kingdom, she'd surrendered to Yugi after it seemed hopeless. But now… she didn't want to quit. It seemed like Kaiba had bested her, but Mai had worked too hard for this. For whatever reason, she wasn't ready to throw in the towel. "Dream on, Kaiba! Just attack if you think you're going to win."

"Hm." Kaiba frowned. "Very well, you forced my hand." He glanced at Mokuba who was watching, enrapt. _Don't say I didn't try to help her_. "Now I activate my Soul Exchange magic card! My Z-Metal Tank is mine again!"

White wisps swirled around the machine and it levitated to Kaiba's side of the field, turning to face Mai. Kaiba leaned forward "Now your defence is gone and that trap card will be useless!"

"I disagree! Go Magic Jammer!" Mai's face-down flipped up and the machine whizzed back to her side of the field, turning to face Kaiba. "What do you think of that?"

"I think you're wasting your time!" Kaiba shouted angrily. "Obelisk the Tormentor! Attack her monster with fist of fate!" The enormous god leaned forward, its fist igniting with blue energy. Air blasted as the furious strike came down with a sonic boom.

The audience cried out, shielding their eyes from the blinding blue light. The entire blimp seemed to quake and even Kaiba stumbled, stepping forward to keep himself from falling over. Mai was crouching, staring at her empty field as well as the circular burn mark before her. _It did that to the metal…? What would it do to me?_

"You saved yourself for a turn…" Kaiba said as the blimp levelled out, the air swishing his white coat. "Now let's see if you can do it again."

Mai straightened and whipped out a card. _Oh no… this one isn't a monster either!_ She scrunched her eyes shut. _What can I do… I have to check all my options!_ Mai opened her eyes and looked at each card in her hand. _I think… I think…_ She raised her hand and deliberated. _This is all I can do now… I have to put these cards down and hope that somehow they'll help…_

"I set three cards face-down and end my turn!" She slipped them in one-at-a-time, the face-downs appearing before her.

"Useless." Kaiba drew and stared at the monster he picked up.

"Errrgh no! Mai!" Joey shouted, surprising the duellist. "You can't let him attack you directly with Obelisk! You have to give up!" He was clearly worried about her, they both flashed back to the memory of Joey's kiss.

"Zip it, Wheeler!" Kaiba snapped "Although… for once he's saying something smart. You should give up."

"I'm not giving up this time." Mai responded, resolute.

"Do you still think you can beat me? Well, I summon this! Peten the Dark Clown in defence mode!" A jovial clown appeared, dipping his feathered hat as he bowed. "This monster will allow me to summon another Peten the Dark Clown from my deck if he's destroyed, that means there's no way you're getting to my life points even if you do come up with some bogus strategy!"

 _Okay, I have three face-downs…_ Mai thought. _Let's try with number one!_

"Go! Call of the Haunted! I revive my Harpie's Pet Dragon and put her in defence mode!" Mai's large pink dragon appeared with a shrieky roar, although it was a rodent when compared in size to Obelisk. Its defence beeped at 2500.

Kaiba growled "Go Obelisk! Attack her again!" His god loomed overhead.

 _Time for card two…_ Mai raised her arm.

"Spell Reproduction! I discard the last cards in my hand to use the effect of your oh-so-fashionable Attack Guidance Armour! Thanks for summoning a second monster, hun. Attach to Peten!"

Her card flipped upward and then the familiar breast-plate armour appeared on the clown who patted it comfortably.

"That trap won't work on Obelisk either! Hahaha!" Blue light illuminated the arena from above.

"Just give up, Mai!" Joey yelled desperately.

"Oh no, Mai! I can't watch!" Serenity cowered into Tea.

"I have one card left…" Mai clenched her fists, eyebrow quivering. "Activate Shadow of Eyes!"

"What?" Kaiba's eyes widened.

"It forces your Peten the Dark Clown to attack my Harpie's Pet Dragon! Your monster's attack is only 500, so even though neither monster will be destroyed, the difference in power you'll lose is 2000! And you only have 1800 life points left!"

A bead of sweat ran down Kaiba's face, the blue light was getting brighter as Obelisk drove his fist toward the field. Peten dashed forward with a cackle, wielding a knife as it went for Mai's dragon.

"Kaiba already declared his attack!" Duke exclaimed. "So which attack is going to hit first?"

Everyone in the audience stared on in shock as the field became too bright to see. Both Mai and Kaiba had desperate expressions on their faces as everything was consumed by white.

With an echoing roar Obelisk and his glory vanished from the field, revealing a panting Kaiba with wide eyes. Mai blinked in utter shock. The field before them was empty and the referee was staring at his boss, unsure of what to do.

"I won…" Mai's life points were still on 2100 while Kaiba's decreased to zero.

"S-Sir? Should I call it?" The moustached Rolund looked hesitant, he didn't want to lose his job.

"I can't believe it…" Mokuba whispered, his eyes watering "Seto lost… in his own tournament… his first official due and he lost… his plan is ruined… Mai gets to keep Obelisk the Tormentor…"

Kaiba was staring at his shaky hands, staring at the field. His whole face was twitching. He was waiting to wake up from what could only be an outrageous nightmare.

"You sure gave me a run for my money…" Mai spoke up, no joke in her voice. "But I managed to win that duel." She turned to the referee. "Call it! Obviously, the duel's over."

"Sir?" The suited man looked at Kaiba whose face was lowered, covered by shadow. Rolund cleared his throat, raising an arm uncertainly "The winner is… Mai Valentine."

Everyone was too shocked to speak. Mai watched Kaiba with a serious expression as the arena finally lowered, crunching to a stop.

"Mai that was incredible!" Serenity jumped up to hug the taller woman "You're my hero!"

"Hey!" Joey yelled "I thought I was ya hero?" He relaxed to smile at the victor "Awesome duel, Mai."

"I guess this means I'm a semi-finalist." Mai murmured while Serenity clung to her "Along with Joey, Ishizu and that snake Bakura…"

"Hey guys…" Tristan spoke up "Kaiba still hasn't budged."

Mokuba climbed up and raced over to his brother's side.

"Seto, you okay?" No response. "Ah… Seto?"

 _How could I lose? First Yugi and now me?_ He clenched his teeth, whole body going taut.

"I've had enough of this nonsense!" Kaiba shouted "Ridiculous!" He stormed off, single-mindedly while Mokuba scurried after him. His eyes gave him the appearance of a rabid dog.

"Hey Kaiba!" Joey yelled "Don't you owe Mai a card?"

"Let him go, Joey." Yugi warned "Kaiba needs to cool off."

He walked straight past them and punched the elevator button, Mokuba stared out at the others worriedly as the doors closed.

"This changes everything…" Rolund could be heard speaking to himself. He turned away and lifted his collar, radioing in the other workers.

* * *

When the elevator doors opened to the control room all the white-coated employees stared at Kaiba in shock. Computer screens were flashing but every eye was on the boss at that moment. Kaiba's head was dipped, his fists straining. Mokuba fidgeted nervously from beside him. When Kaiba raised his eyes he looked furious, causing the workers to freeze up in fear.

"What are you all standing around for?" Kaiba roared "Get to analysing that duel immediately!"

"Y-yes Mr Kaiba!" They became a flurry of busyness, scrambling over the keyboards.

"If I catch you slacking off you'll all be fired! Do I make myself clear?"

"Seto…" Mokuba lowered his eyes sadly.

"There's no way she could've beaten me." He turned away from his brother, walking into the room "She must have stacked her deck somehow. How else did she get the cards she needed?"

"Mai's just a really good duellist, Seto…" Mokuba pressed and Kaiba said nothing for a while, the only sound the scrambling workers and their technology.

"I know…" Then he tensed up, shaking "but no one should have defeated me!" _No card tricks, no magical nonsense… how the hell could she have done it?_ "If she has cheated my technology will find the truth! With play-by-play information and satellite footage we'll see!"

"I-I know Seto… I just… don't think Mai would've cheated."

"Mr Kaiba Sir…" a security worker stepped up nervously, his hand on his earpiece.

"What is it?" Kaiba snapped.

"One of the duellists, Joseph Wheeler, he's… ah, making quite a scene on the upper level. It seems he's insisting on talking to you."

"That hack!" But then Kaiba's eyes lowered. Joey held the King of Games title, so therefore Kaiba had to acknowledge his strength. He pictured the blonde duellist's face and a confusing mix of emotion swirled inside him. "He wants me to give up my Obelisk, doesn't he?"

"There's been talk going on upstairs, Sir. They're worried you might try to rip up Obelisk… they're saying you did that to a Blue-Eyes belonging to Mr Muto's grandfather. And also… now that you're out of the competition the other contenders are worried you won't follow through with the rest of the tournament."

"We're already on course for Kaiba Island." he muttered "but they have a point about the tournament at least… this competition doesn't interest me anymore."

"But Seto!" Mokuba was surprised "What about the others?"

"I couldn't care less. In fact, if I had it my way we'd toss them off this aircraft and into the ocean. Then they can swim to the island for all I care."

"You don't mean that…"

"Listen Mokuba…" Kaiba reached up and pulled off his duel disk. "I'm going back to my room, so don't bother me. If you want to see this tournament end then you can oversee what's left of it." He turned back toward the elevator.

"What? You're really throwing in the towel?"

"Mr Kaiba! What about Mr Wheeler?"

"No one is to disturb me." He punched the button, shadow over his face as the doors slid closed.

* * *

Joey had made it down the fire escape stairwell, and was pretty sure this was the right way considering the security team was still chasing him.

"Hold it!"

"You can't go down there!"

The shaggy-haired teen burst through a door and into a new corridor. It was much fancier and decorative, it had rich-boy's life-of-luxury stink all over it. Sure enough the elevator down the hall opened and he lunged just as a couple of suits tackled him to the ground. He growled and opened his eyes to Kaiba's boots, raising his head to see the other teen staring down at him blankly.

"Kaiba! I got a couple of words for ya!"

An arm wrapped around his neck as a guard choked him "You punk! You shouldn't even be down here!"

"Let him go." Kaiba said blankly. Joey was confused as the security men released him, crawling back and getting to their feet.

"Mr Kaiba?"

"This is my personal suite. Not even you guys are authorized to be here."

"Ah, yes Mr Kaiba! It's just that, well, this boy-"

"Save it. If you want to keep your jobs I'd get out of my sight if I were you!"

"Yes Sir!" The two men backed away and disappeared through the emergency door.

Kaiba crossed his arms and sighed. Joey was still on the ground below him, confused. He didn't expect Kaiba to bail him out of that mess… The reason he'd insisted on seeing Kaiba was for answers. He knew the guy was in a foul mood, and even though he risked getting disqualified, he still _had_ to see Kaiba. It wasn't just answers he wanted… it was recognition from the duellist he admired.

When Kaiba looked down his expression only showed contempt. That faded purple bruise on his cheek reminded Joey of their hallway scuffle, and Kaiba's dismissive attitude only made Joey want to fight him again.

"Staying on the floor? You are a dog after all."

"Kaiba!" Joey burned red, launching himself up threateningly, even though he was half-a-head shorter. "When are you gonna acknowledge that I'm a strong duellist? I got in your contest and won my way to the finals, and I beat Yugi in an official match!"

"Is that what you came here for? Validation?"

Joey felt the way he usually did near Kaiba, too mad to think up retorts to his clever barbs. Kaiba looked away, but instead of anger he looked empty. It made Joey hesitate.

"I'm not your opponent anymore."

"You'll always be my opponent!"

"No, I failed. You have Yugi's title. So, I guess I was wrong about you. Sorry Joey… you are a good duellist."

Joey stood dumbstruck. It was like Kaiba was speaking gibberish. He must have misspoken. Joey said nothing, then raised a hand to his ear.

"Say what? What did you just say to me?"

"I just acknowledged you, you dweeb!" Kaiba shouted "Now if you're quite satisfied, get the hell out of here!"

"Y-you really…?" Joey flushed, and for once it had nothing to do with anger.

A bubble of pure happiness and pride was swelling inside him, swallowing him whole. It wasn't until that moment that he realised how much he actually cared about Kaiba's opinion. How much he'd wanted to prove Kaiba wrong ever since Duellist Kingdom. He'd never showed up Kaiba… he'd always made a fool of himself… but right now Joey felt his spirits soar. In his mind at least, Kaiba had always been one of the best. He actually felt embarrassed about how happy he was at that moment.

"Why are you staring at me like that?" Kaiba snapped. When Joey couldn't seem to get his mouth to work the other guy pulled him up by his collar. "Get! Out!"

And then Joey followed one of his thoughtless impulses. He didn't know where the hell it came from. All he knew was that he was happy as hell, his mind still blurry and disbelieving. And then when Kaiba's furious face was close to his he leaned forward to gently kiss him.

The taller brunette froze and when Joey's mind caught up to him, he froze as well. They both jumped away from each other and Kaiba was pale and stuttering.

"Ah…" Joey's face felt tomato-coloured, he was so embarrassed. "Gotta go, bye!" He sprinted to that fire exit and slammed it behind him, throwing his back against the door while his heart beat like crazy.

 _I just kissed Kaiba! What was I thinking! Why the hell would I do that!_

He put a hand over his lips. The others were right, this title-thing had gone to his head. He thought he liked Mai, that was why he kissed her. She meant so much to him. Kaiba… was nothing more than a sworn enemy. Joey had hated him more than anyone else, it'd always been his dream to someday beat Kaiba. But then… Kaiba ruined it by being nice and now all that competitive passion turned into some weird gooey admiration.

He was so muddled up at that moment. And so embarrassed he contemplated climbing back up to the top level and throwing himself off the edge of the blimp. Joey slinked down to his bottom and sighed.

* * *

 **So... Mai beat Kaiba. Yep, that's the part we're all thinking about right now. Hehe... For my readers who aren't a fan of slash romance don't worry, this isn't going to be a big part of the story. Anywho, tell me what you think with a review.**


End file.
